Kalista and the Rownings
by asdef
Summary: Kalista Belle grew up surrounded by humans. She always knew she was different from them. But she was never able to find out why until the day a vampire showed up at her window and took her away from home.
1. Identity

Welcome to the first chapter of _Kalista and the Rownings_!

Read and review. It can be a comment, a suggestion, anything at all. You can even say, "I don't know what to put in this review" if you want to. I just want something from you so I know that people are reading this.

The vampires in this story don't follow all of Yuna Kagesaki's rules. I changed a few things around to better fit the parameters of my plot, but the vampires are still recognizable, I think. I'm just putting this note here so nobody points out to me, "Kagesaki's vampires aren't like that." I already know.

I don't own _Karin/Chibi Vampire_. Yuna Kagesaki does.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**One: Identity**

_**September, 1994**_

Carol Belle walked into her five-year-old daughter's bedroom and opened up the curtains wide. Sunlight poured in, transforming the room into morning. Grumbling with displeasure at the sudden light, Kalista pulled the blanket up over her head. Carol sat down on the edge of the child's bed.

"Kalista, sweetheart," Carol murmured. "It's time to wake up. It's your first day of kindergarten."

"I don't want to go to kindergarten," Kalista mumbled, her voice muffled by the blanket.

"You have to."

"No. I'm sleepy."

"Yes, I know you are. But you still have to get up. C'mon, Kalista."

With a bit more coaxing, Carol managed to convince Kalista to get out of bed. The child reluctantly dragged her blanket down, revealing her small pale face. Throwing her arm over her head to block the sunlight that was streaming through her window, she stumbled out of her bed.

"Kalista, I don't know why you dislike light so much, but you're going to have to get used to it," Carol said gently. "You're always very pale – avoiding sunlight isn't a good thing."

"But I get headaches in the sun. So it must be bad for me," her daughter said mildly. She then went out the door, heading for the bathroom.

_Get headaches in the sun._

Carol let out a long, heavy sigh.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

As Kalista chewed obliviously on her breakfast cereal, Carol gazed at her from across the kitchen table. Kalista wasn't Carol's biological daughter, and that fact was obvious. Carol's hair and eyes were both very ordinary shades of light brown. Kalista had an angular face and long, sharp fingers. Her short hair, inexplicably, was a sort of light lavender shade. And her faded eyes had a hint of fiery garnet in them.

Sometimes, Carol wasn't entirely sure if Kalista was human.

"Kalista," Carol said, "I should warn you. You've noticed, haven't you? There are many people out there who look similar to me, but we've seen no one who looks like you. The other kids at school might think you're a bit strange at first because of that. Try not to get mad at them. You're a very nice girl, and anyone can realize that if they get to know you. You just have to be patient."

Kalista nodded. "Okay," she said flippantly.

Carol winced inside, hoping her daughter would be all right.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

"Kalista, you sit here," the teacher, Mrs. Penn, instructed.

"Yes, ma'am."

As Kalista took her assigned seat at the end of the second row, Mrs. Penn blinked. "Ma'am?" she echoed to herself. She wasn't used to being called ma'am, especially by a kid. And something about the way _that _kid said, "ma'am," felt unusual. There was something hidden in her voice . . . . Mrs. Penn couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something different about that Kalista Belle. She could feel it.

Just a moment later, she would realize that all the other kids could feel it too. "Bryan, you sit next to Kalista," she told the next student.

The chunky black-haired student called Bryan blanched. "Do I have to?"

Mrs. Penn arched an eyebrow. "Yes, Bryan, you have to. Sit down now, so I can tell everyone else where they sit."

"Seriously, do I have to?" Bryan's voice became increasingly apprehensive.

"Yes." Mrs. Penn said the word as firmly as she could.

Hesitantly, Bryan slid into the seat next to Kalista. He sat right on the edge of his chair, as far from her as he could get. Trying to be nice, Kalista smiled and waved at him. She made sure to make eye contact, because Carol had told her that was polite. Bryan flinched and turned away, apparently bent on _not _making eye contact. Kalista suddenly remembered the reddish color of her eyes.

"Mrs. Penn?" Bryan sounded fearful, almost desperate. "Do I have no say in this?"

"Yes, Bryan, you have no say in this," Mrs. Penn responded sternly. "There's nothing wrong with where you're sitting, so that's where you're going to stay until February."

"Don't you have an extra seat somewhere? Can't I switch with someone else?"

"You stay where you are, Bryan. Now, Nicky, you sit here."

Bryan glanced at Kalista, then whispered urgently, "Ask the teacher to switch seats with someone."

Kalista frowned. "That not nice, you know," she whispered back. "Don't be mean."

Bryan only repeated his request for her to move.

He just didn't get it, Kalista thought. He did not see her at all, to the point that they might as well been in different worlds. Well, she could accept that, she supposed. After all, people were different. There was nothing wrong with that.

"Okay, now everyone's in their assigned seats," Mrs. Penn said. "Now, as this is our first day, nobody knows each other. Therefore, I am going to ask each of you to stand up in turn to introduce yourselves to everyone else. Just say your name and a little about yourself. I'll go first. My name is Mrs. Penn and . . . ."

Kalista almost immediately lost interest in the prattling of her teacher and classmates. She caught snippets here and there, but couldn't seem to be interested in anything more. This boy liked baseball and that girl liked the color yellow. Someone's birthday was on this day and someone else had a chef for a father. Whatever.

Kalista didn't understand why she felt so detached from her peers. She was hearing what the other kids were saying. She could clearly understand their words. But she couldn't find herself able to relate to any of them in any way. She couldn't become interested in the way they talked and thought. It was almost as if she were living in a different world, breathing different air. Bryan's mind wasn't the only one that was so indecipherable to her, she realized. Everyone's was.

What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she feel any emotions? Why could she not bring herself to listen dutifully to her classmates? Abruptly, it occurred to Kalista that she felt alone. She was sitting in a classroom full of other kids and an adult and she still felt alone. Because she didn't belong here. She didn't know why, but that was incredibly clear. Kalista Belle. Suddenly her name was transformed in her eyes. Her whole short life, she'd believed that she knew who she was. She was Kalista Belle. But now she realized that Kalista Belle was not an identity. It was just a name.

Incredibly mystified, Kalista whispered to herself, "What am I doing here?"

Mrs. Penn called on her. When Kalista started listing generic facts about herself, she felt like she was talking about a stranger. She just didn't know herself anymore. Puzzlement resounded in her head.

Recess came. Kalista sat alone at her desk, deep in thought, not even trying to play with the other children. She paid no attention to the pleasant babbling around her, so she didn't immediately notice when someone spoke to her. Kalista had to be shaken before she realized that she was being talked to.

"Hi," said the classmate in a chirpy voice.

She was small, like Kalista, and had short red hair. She had green eyes behind round glasses. Kalista dimly recalled her name to be Nicky Williams.

"Hi," Kalista parroted flatly.

Nicky blinked, caught somewhat off guard by this unresponsive answer. She persistently said, "My name is Nicky. Yours is Kalista, right?"

Kalista nodded.

Appearing irritated, Nicky said, "You know, when people talk to you, it's nice to talk back."

"Sorry," Kalista said. "I never spent much time outside my house until now. I think you're something like the third or fourth person I've ever talked to in my life."

Nicky seemed stunned by this, but she recovered soon enough. "So I guess you're not a people person," she concluded. "But even non-people people need to have some friends, or else they go crazy. Which is why I am now going to be your friend, whether you like it or not."

And in that manner, Kalista gained her first friend.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Carol Belle stared across the table at Dr. Mendez, trying hard not to blink.

Nearly four and two-thirds years ago, on a hot summer day in June, Carol had been outside, watering the lawn of the new house she'd just moved into. She thought she heard something in the light wind, and began investigating when the sound persisted. Her search had lead her to the inside of a rusty garbage can, where, to her complete and utter astonishment, lay an almost newborn baby girl.

For a good amount of time afterward, Carol had obsessively tried to track down the baby's parents. But to no avail. No one ever claimed her. Carol had been only twenty-two at that time, a kid just starting out in the world. But in the end, she decided to keep her foundling as her own anyway. She named the baby Kalista.

On the same day that Carol had decided to keep Kalista, her friend (of the time) Luis Mendez had shown up at her house. He had been good enough friends with her that she didn't mind a surprise visit. Luis (whom she now only referred to as Dr. Mendez) was a doctor, and had been curious about Kalista. He'd never seen anyone with red-hinted eyes. Dr. Mendez had gotten permission from Carol to carefully look over Kalista, and afterward made a shocking announcement: the baby wasn't human.

Dr. Mendez had advised Carol to get rid of Kalista. It was too dangerous, he said. Who knew what kind of horrific creature that girl, no, that freak of nature, could grow up to be? But Carol had already grown too attached to her new daughter. She and Dr. Mendez had argued heatedly, with the end result being both of them one friend short.

Dr. Mendez still came over occasionally. He'd never given up trying to convince Carol to lose Kalista. He became even more determined once Kalista grew a little and started to show strange signs. Carol's daughter detested the sunlight, and never really became energetic like most kids until the night. Her senses all seemed unnaturally sharp, especially her sense of smell. Every time a new oddity was discovered, Dr. Mendez would somehow find out about it (Carol had no idea how, since she never voluntarily told anyone about Kalista's eccentricities) and show up at her house for another heated argument. Like today.

Finally Dr. Mendez quailed under Carol's relentless stare, and he blinked. Redundantly, he repeated all his reasons for why Carol shouldn't continue to house Kalista. They fell on deaf ears. She, once again, gave the answer she always gave.

"I don't care if Kalista's not human. She's my daughter. I'm her mother. That's what matters. If you expect any mother to just quietly give up her child, then there is something wrong with you."

"You are not her true mother," Dr. Mendez argued. "You don't know anything about her."

She turned away from him. "Look, I have to go," Carol said firmly. "I have to pick up Kalista-"

She looked at the nearby clock on the wall.

"-an hour ago," Carol finished bleakly. "Oh! I'm so late!"

But just as Carol jumped up from her seat, the front door opened and Kalista stepped through. Ignoring Dr. Mendez, Kalista hastily said, "Hi Mom" and headed for the stairs.

"Wait!" Carol cried, startled. "Kalista! How - why - where - how did you get home?"

"I went back the way we came," she answered simply. Apparently Kalista hadn't wanted to wait for Carol to come around.

Carol had a feeling she was going to be enduring another outburst from Dr. Mendez soon, this time involving how on earth her five-year-old daughter could memorize the way to and from school after only one trip. Trying to prolong his inevitable rant, Carol asked, "How was school? Did you make any friends?"

The child's eyes seemed thousands of miles away. Slowly, as if she were testing out each word, Kalista murmured, "I don't want to make friends."

Then she ascended up the stairs. As soon as Kalista was out of earshot, Dr. Mendez began.

"You see!" he shouted. "_I don't want to make friends. _Obviously that's because she can't relate to her peers well, which is obviously because she's not human. I know _I _wouldn't find it easy to be amongst members of a whole different species. Carol, that child -"

Carol mentally groaned as she endured yet another one of his tirades.


	2. The Lost Ones

Wow, we have a pretty complicated five-year-old on our hands, don't we? Too complicated. That's why we're going to have a little time skip here. Just thought I'd give you a heads-up on that.

Hawthorne is the name of the town Kalista lives in. I made it up, and as of yet I am completely unaware of any real towns named Hawthorne, if there are any.

Singing actually has been scientifically proven to cheer people up, by the way. So no arguing with Nicky.

_Karin/Chibi Vampire _does not belong to me. It is the property of Yuna Kagesaki.

By the way, we're still alive. Why is that so great? To borrow the words of a wise person, loads of people die every day, and they're not us. So to celebrate our extended existences, why don't you leave me a review? I don't know about you, but it will make me very happy!

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Two: The Lost Ones**

_**May, 2001**_

"No," Kalista said flatly.

"Come on, Kalista," Nicky pestered. "You're always so grouchy. Sing a little with the rest of us. It'll lift your spirits."

"_Thirty-seven bottles of pop on the wall," _chorused the other students on the bus. "_Thirty-seven bottles of pop. Take one down, pass it around, thirty-seven bottles of pop on the wall."_

"What connection does singing hold to feeling good?" Kalista questioned skeptically.

Nicky shrugged. "It makes me feel great, so why not work for you too?"

Because Kalista didn't speak often enough for sound-making to feel normal, that was why. But she didn't tell that to her friend.

"_Thirty-six bottles of pop on the wall, thirty-six bottles of pop. Take one down, pass it around, thirty-six bottles of pop on the wall."_

"I don't want to sing," Kalista said.

"Oh, come on."

"_Thirty-five bottles of pop on the wall, thirty-five bottles of pop. Take one down, pass it around, thirty-five bottles of pop on the wall."_

"Please, Kalista? Just one verse?"

Kalista sighed. One verse couldn't hurt, she supposed. She and Nicky joined their classmates for the next segment of the song.

"_Thirty-four bottles of pop on the wall, thirty-four bottles of – AAAHH!"_

The bus took a sharp turn to the left, causing many students to be jostled in their seats. Nicky was thrown into Kalista, who was thrown into the window.

"I didn't plan that, but there you go," Kalista said as Nicky readjusted her glasses.

The bus straightened itself out and in no time was driving smoothly again. All the students pulled themselves back to their original seats.

Robbie Arlington, the brown-haired boy sitting in the seat behind Kalista and Nicky, leaned over so he could see them. "When are we going to be there? Pass it on," he requested.

Nicky leaned over and spoke to Mary Falls, the short girl sitting in the seat in front of her. "When are we going to be there? Pass it on," she said.

In turn, Mary Falls asked the boy sitting in front of her, "When are we going to be there? Pass it on."

Like that the message traveled until it reached the ears of the bus driver, who then hollered loudly, "Ten minutes!"

"Gah!" Robbie cried. "We better pick it up if we want to finish the song before we get to the city. _Thirty-three bottles of pop on the wall, thirty-three bottles of pop." _Other students soon joined him, singing as fast as they could.

"Just a few minutes ago he was complaining about how long the bus ride was." Nicky shook her head exasperatedly.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Ten minutes later the buses unloaded. All the students were gathered up in a large group. With a bullhorn a teacher announced the lackluster plans for the day.

"What!" Robbie Arlington exclaimed. "You have got to be kidding me! _How _long do we have to walk?"

"These are nice streets," the teacher answered meekly.

Nicky sighed. "I wouldn't mind having to walk normally, but this humidity is killing me. Why do you think they always hold field trips in May or June, Kalista?"

When she didn't get a response, Nicky turned partway around to look at her friend. She didn't see her.

"That's weird," Nicky said aloud to herself. "I could've sworn Kalista was standing right next to me. Did she wander off?"

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Kalista _had _wandered off, but not because she had any particular aversion to walking up and down some streets. When she had stepped off the bus earlier, the first thing she noticed was an old, run-down building. Which was a strange thing to notice first, because the dilapidated building was far away and half-hidden behind a bunch of other towers. They were all tall, commanding structures that demanded onlookers' attention.

But there had been something strange about that falling-apart building in the background. It almost seemed to call out to Kalista, drawing her attention as if it were a familiar face in a sea of strangers. Disregarding everything else, she had wandered down the few roads toward it, intrigued.

She stood outside the ruined building now. She didn't know why, but this structure felt different to her than everywhere else she had known. From a very young age Kalista had felt unsettled with the world. Though she loved Carol dearly, Kalista knew that wherever her own place in the world was, it wasn't in Hawthorne with her surrogate mother. Kalista had often thought about it, becoming a traveler when she grew up. She had fantasized about roaming the Earth, searching for the place where she rightfully belonged.

There had been one major gap in that idea of hers: how would she know when she found her true home? Kalista had supposed that she would know instinctively when she found it, the same way she instinctively knew that she didn't belong in the place where she was now. She had imagined that a sort of sixth sense would guide her.

That sixth sense seemed to be present now. The decrepit building looming in front of her did not feel completely right. But it didn't make her feel as stranded as everywhere else did either. It was like the road leading up to a house. The road wasn't the real home, but it lead to the real home. It let the inhabitant know that his or her home was close by. That he or she was almost home. Not quite, but almost.

_If I leave now, I won't know what I missed, _Kalista thought._ And I'll spend the rest of my life wondering what would've happened if I had gone ahead._

So she went ahead.

The old building's dull-colored door was in surprisingly good shape. It still opened and closed just fine, albeit with a good amount of creaking and groaning. Kalista walked inside. The windows were mostly boarded-up with wooden planks, so not much sunlight could stream in to light the room. Even so, Kalista could (for some mysterious reason) see very well in the dark, so the lack of light did not bother her.

She was startled by the condition of the building's interior. Despite the ramshackle structure it appeared to be on the outside, inside the dust-content was decent enough to be considered livable. It even had an ample amount of furniture: a tiny beat-up table near the center of the room, two tiny beat-up chairs accompanying this table, a tarnished little radio, and (Kalista stared) a pair of scratched coffins lying in the corner.

Kalista thought she heard something, and looked up at the low ceiling. There, she saw that she wasn't alone. Hanging upside-down from one of the rickety ceiling beams was a small bat with glittering black eyes. The animal gazed at her warily.

Kalista's head was telling her to turn back but her instincts were telling her another message altogether. Her brain incredulously asked how and why a bat would be in a city and demanded a logical explanation before proceeding. Her instincts were intensely curious, and begged her to go on. Kalista deliberated for several moments before letting her curiosity get the better of her. She held out her hands, and the bat swooped down gracefully. It hesitated for just a moment, but then landed lightly in her joined palms, its tiny talons digging slightly into her skin. Its glittery gaze never left her.

Inexplicably, Kalista felt more like another person and not an animal was sitting on her hands. The bat's dark eyes spoke of intelligence and knowing. They had emotion in them. The bat looked ready to speak to her at any moment.

"You're just like me," Kalista said softly. She didn't know how she knew it. The thought just came into her head unannounced. "You and me, we're both lost souls. We're not in our right places in this world. We're here, which is the closest thing to home that we know of, but it's not quite right. Nowhere is quite right. You want it, don't you? To know why you're really here? I want to learn that too."

The bat cocked its head and held her stare. The emotions coming from its dark eyes seemed to reach out and touch Kalista's mind. She could almost feel a sense of despair emanating from the bat. It was the kind of quiet despair that came only from seeing no meaning in life but continuing to live anyway, because that seemed better than the other option.

"You're just like me," Kalista murmured again.

Then, from nowhere, Kalista heard a low female voice whispering inside her mind.

_You are just like me._

If Kalista had been given time to react, she would've felt shock. But she didn't have the time to feel anything, because the exact instant that the voice finished its sentence, the door behind Kalista sprang open. The bat flew away from Kalista's hands as she spun around. In the doorway stood one of Kalista's classmates. Bryan Katsky, the boy who had hated her on sight seven years before.

"Found you, Kalista Belle!" he exclaimed with mirth. "Now you're in trouble. The teachers are gonna flip when they learn that you've run to this shabby dump."

"Well, what about you?" Kalista challenged. "You're here too, aren't you?"

Bryan rolled his eyes. "Teachers are going to be too busy giving me credit for finding you to put me in any trouble. Do you realize that you – _is that a bat?"_

The bat screeched shrilly, furiously beating its - her - leathery wings. She lunged at Bryan, causing him to gape in horror. Her malicious intent was clear. The bat landed on Bryan's face, her wings still flapping wildly. Bryan's voice struggled to make a sound, but it was lost. The bat flew away from his face only after he stopped moving. Bryan collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Kalista gasped.

The bat hovered near her shoulder. _Do not worry, dear one, _she told Kalista gently. Then she flew upward, back onto the ceiling beam.

Moaning, Bryan stirred and cracked open his eyes. He sluggishly sat up while rubbing a newly-formed cut on his face. He looked at Kalista and frowned, confused. "Who are you?" he asked.

Unbeknownst to both of them, the bat was not the only one watching this scene. Her companions were watching as well.


	3. Symptoms

Sorry for all the time skips. This is the last big one, I promise.

I think vampires have reflections in _Karin/Chibi Vampire, _but if they don't, please disregard that. Thanks.

_Karin/Chibi Vampire _does not belong to me. It belongs to Yuna Kagesaki.

Please leave a review!

**Three: Symptoms**

_**June, 2003**_

_Gilbert called it singing, but to Chris it sounded more like his friend was imitating the wails of a dying bird. Still, his glowing face simply radiated joy, so Chris didn't comment on his friend's embarrassing exuberance._

"_Yo, Chris!" Gilbert hollered. He always spoke loudly, even when he was right next to people. "I know you know the words to this song too. Sing with me!"_

"Hey, Kalista? Earth to Kalista."

_Before Chris had a chance to respond, he felt Lord Jonan's grip on his shoulder tighten. "Don't listen to him, sir," he murmured to Chris, who inwardly scowled at the title, "sir." It wasn't something he liked being called, even though that word kept being used._

_Lord Jonan directed his next words to Gilbert. "Gilbert Parker, you cannot expect Christopher to sing such a silly, childish song. You should not even be doing that yourself."_

"_Why not?" Gilbert asked dubiously, momentarily halting in his singing. "We're children."_

"Kalista? Kalista? Hello, Kalista!"

"_You soon will not be," Lord Jonan responded coolly. He stood up with his hand raised. Gilbert froze, apparently fearing the man might strike him. But instead, Lord Jonan pressed his palm down onto Gilbert's wailing radio, killing the music._

_Somehow, that felt even worse than a blow._

"Kalista! Come on, talk to me, Kalista!"

At last Kalista concluded that pretending to be too absorbed in her book to hear Nicky was not going to make her go away. She shut the thick novel and laid it down.

"You're supposed to spend lunch time eating lunch, not reading a book," Nicky complained. "We spend the rest of the school day with our noses stuck in books."

"I'm not hungry."

Nicky frowned when she saw the book Kalista was reading. "That again? Honestly, Kalista, I don't know why you like _The Village in the West _at all, much less read it over and over. Gilbert is a total joke and Chris is a killjoy."

"No, they're not. Well, they are, actually, but they're still really likable."

Nicky rolled her eyes. "So why do you like this book?"

Kalista absentmindedly glanced out the window while preparing her answer. Then she quickly glanced at there again, trying to spot the thing she'd seen a passing glimpse of the first time. Nothing was there but the window. Hadn't there been something there? Blinking fast, she tried looking again. Still just the window, nothing else.

That was odd. Kalista had been sure she had seen something there. It had probably just been her imagination, she concluded. Or maybe it was a bird that had now flown away. Yes, that was probably it. The thing _had_ looked sort of like a bird.

"Helloooooooo?" Nicky hollered. "Yo, Kalista? I asked, why do you like this book?"

"What? Oh, right." Kalista had been asked this question by Nicky several times before. If her answer didn't work the first dozen times, Kalista doubted she could make it work now. So she simply left it at, "Because I do."

It was mostly because of the friendship between Chris and Gilbert. Chris was the son of the village's highly-respected leader, so everyone expected him to be mature and serious. Gilbert, who was a loud and obnoxious prankster, was the last person they connected to Chris. But that was because they never saw Chris's true personality, which he constantly suppressed to meet expectations.

_Gilbert resembled a person whose pet had recently died. He sat beside his silenced radio, a stunned expression on his face. Never before in his life had anyone told him it was wrong to act like a child._

_Chris leaned over and turned the radio back on. He _did _know every word to this song, and he began to sing at the top of his lungs._

"_Christopher?" Lord Jonan gasped._

"_Sing with me, Gilbert!" Chris said cheerily to Gilbert, who promptly burst into laughter and joined in._

Gilbert was the only one who remembered that Chris was a child. That's why they were friends: because they allowed each other to be themselves. Kalista knew that was also why Carol kept Kalista in her house for so many years. She was fine with her strange daughter as she was.

Nicky shrugged and said, "Okay. But you still should eat lunch."

Kalista grimaced. "It doesn't taste good."

"That's no excuse to waste it!" her friend cried, and the tone of her voice had Kalista half-expecting a giant flag to pop up and billow in non-existent wind behind Nicky while the country's National Anthem played in the background. "If you don't like it, give it to somebody who forgot to bring a lunch today. Seriously, did you know that like every four seconds, someone out there dies from hunger? I don't know if wasting food is a sin or not, but if it's not, than it should be!"

"Let me guess, you forgot your lunch today," Kalista inferred.

"Take me to your lunchbox," Nicky said in a theatrical zombie voice.

Kalista took out the nearly uneaten sandwich Carol had packed her for lunch and handed it to Nicky, who immediately took a bite.

"Mmm," Nicky murmured. "You know, Kalista, I have some trouble believing you actually didn't like this sandwich. It tastes just fine to me."

Kalista frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah. Probably you can't taste it right because you're just weird."

"Or maybe _you're _just weird."

"Let's test that." Nicky unnecessarily hollered over to the next table. "Hey, Mary! C'mere!"

The short sandy-haired girl from the next table shyly approached Nicky.

"Take a bit from this sandwich and tell me what you think," Nicky requested, to which Mary (looking confused) obeyed.

"You like it?" Nicky prompted.

"Um, yeah. It's okay," Mary Falls answered plainly.

Just for show, Nicky had two more kids try the sandwich as well. They both indicated that it tasted fine. The second one, Robbie Arlington, asked if he could keep the sandwich for himself. Nicky at first refused but changed her mind when Robbie told her that he had forgotten his lunch today, and was 'starving.'

"Of course, you don't like anything except that lame book, so I guess it's normal for you to disagree with the popular opinion," Nicky afterward said lightly.

"It's not just that," Kalista said, mystified. "Everyone said they liked the sandwich, saying that the taste was fine. But I can't taste it _at all. _It feels like I'm chewing on sand. Even if I don't like the taste, I should be able to know it's there."

"Okay. . . ." Nicky said slowly. "Then I guess you've caught a cold and are losing your sense of taste?"

"But I feel fine."

Nicky tried and failed to come up with another solution. "Sorry, Kalista. I'm no detective. I'm lost here."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

"Would you just shut up about that all already?"

"Did you just tell a lady to shut up?"

"A lady? Where did this 'lady' stuff come from? Besides, am I trying to win a gentleman contest or something? No. I'm trying to save you from the horror that Kalista could grow up to be. The horror that she may very well be _now."_

Carol sighed. She really did have to get a restraining order against Dr. Mendez. His visits, becoming more and more frequent, were becoming increasingly annoying.

"Carol, please. Just listen to me this once," Dr. Mendez pleaded. "You're being blinded by your love for this girl – and yes, Carol, I do acknowledge that you indeed love Kalista – so you can't see the truth. Don't you remember two years ago, on her sixth grade field trip? That redheaded girl named Nicky Williams stated that Kalista just suddenly disappeared from the lineup. Some other student says the same of the boy named Bryan Katsky. They were both found together, in an abandoned building. Kalista was completely unharmed, but Bryan had some form of amnesia. He couldn't remember anything at all, not even his own name. Because of Kalista, he's in a mental hospital today. And it doesn't seem like he's going to come out any time in the foreseeable future."

"I know, I know," Carol said exasperatedly. "You're now going to rant about how Kalista is dangerous and how you worry about my safety because I might be next and blah blah blah, meanwhile never stopping to wonder whether it was really Kalista who wiped Bryan's memory clean. It was a terrible tragedy, of course, and I am very sorry for that boy's poor parents, but it wasn't Kalista's fault. She promised me that she didn't and couldn't do it."

"Of course she didn't!" Dr. Mendez scoffed. "Why rat herself out? Carol – "

"Carol nothing," Carol said firmly. "When will you understand that my answer will never, ever change? Kalista is my daughter. I would never turn her out of her own home, because I love her unconditionally. You wouldn't understand that, Dr. Mendez, because you've never been a parent. So why don't you just give it up now?"

Dr. Mendez looked at her with sad eyes. "I gave up a long time ago, Carol, ever since that first argument on the day you decided to keep Kalista. I never expected you to change your mind, but I still tried to dissuade you from loving her anyway. Because we're friends."

"What?"

In all truth, Carol hadn't considered Luis Mendez a friend in years. She had had no idea that he had.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

That night Kalista's dreams were wildly and unusually vivid. They all melted into each other, creating a chaotic jumble of bizarre colors, none of them able to form a recognizable image in Kalista's mind.

It was still dark when she uneasily awoke, feeling horrible. Her throat felt like a million bone-dry needles were pricking it inside. Head spinning, Kalista stumbled downstairs and poured herself a glass of water. She sipped it, then immediately spat the water back out when a sharp stinging sensation exploded in her throat. For whatever reason, the water felt worse than her terrible thirst.

It seemed to Kalista that the temperature was a thousand degrees inside her silent house. Her sweltering body felt almost like it was on fire. She unsteadily walked over to the bathroom and splashed several handfuls of cold water on her face. It felt relatively pleasant, but didn't bring the relief she expected.

Kalista turned to leave for her bedroom, but stopped short just as the bathroom mirror flew out of her peripheral vision. She was certain that she had just caught a quick glimpse of something odd there. . . .

So she turned back around and gazed at herself in the mirror. It took her a few minutes to realize what was wrong, but when she found the oddity, she practically sucked the air out of the room with her startled gasp. The image of herself in the mirror had a pair of pearly-white fangs in her mouth.


	4. Invitation

When I first saw the name "Owl City," I thought it was the name of a band. It looks like a band name, doesn't it? But then later on I found out that Owl City is actually just one guy named Adam Young.

I also used to think that Lady Antebellum was one person. But it turns out they're a band.

And 10,000 Maniacs . . . well, I haven't looked them up yet, but I'm pretty sure that they don't have ten thousand members.

Anyway, Rowning is pronounced with a long "O".

_Karin/Chibi Vampire _is not mine. It belongs to Yuna Kagesaki. Leave a review afterwards, please. Those make me really happy. We need to spread happiness in this world.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Four: Invitation**

Perched on the windowsill, she watched silently as the girl, Kalista Belle, gasped at the sight of the sharp white fangs in her mouth. So the process had already begun, had it?

She sent her partner a question. _Shall I confront the girl now?_

He astonished her with his answer. _No. Wait for me. I'm coming._

_Are you sure? Even if you start traveling now, by the time you get here, it'll be daytime, _she pointed out.

_I don't care, _he said rashly. _I want to be there._

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

The next morning it was easy for Kalista to tell Carol that she felt too sick to go to school, because it was true. Carol offered to take a day off from work to stay with Kalista, but Kalista tactfully refused. She didn't want Carol to see her fangs or whatever else she might grow. She knew full well that Carol's ex-friend, Dr. Mendez, was vying for any excuse he could get to convince Carol to throw Kalista out. At this point, however, Kalista wasn't sure whether her leaving Carol would be a bad thing or not.

_What's happening to me? _The question was like the resounding echo of a large bell, and it clamored through Kalista's head as she uneasily slept through the morning. Even in sleep, she wasn't totally unaware of the aching sickness that was throbbing in her body. The nausea emanated from her very dreams, hovering somewhere between time and space, untouchable.

And then suddenly something extraordinary happened. From nowhere, a bright light came into being and shattered through the haze that was Kalista's mind. Even in dream she could feel her head clearing. The bewildering light kept shining, and the phrase _a light in the darkness _floated through Kalista's mind.

With the light came a voice, a sound that was low and soft and strangely familiar to Kalista. It replaced the clamoring _what's happening to me _question with a new statement. _Wake, dear one. _The request echoed and rang just as loudly as the question before it. Kalista knew she couldn't ignore the call.

So she exited the dream world and cracked open her eyes, waking up and allowing herself to surface into the real world once more. When her mind caught up with her eyes and she could make sense of what she was looking at, Kalista very nearly screamed. Sitting on the edge of her bed, looking pleasantly at her, was a boy whom she had never seen before. A bat sat on his left shoulder.

"Hello, Kalista," the boy said to her. His voice was amiable enough, but guarded at the same time.

He looked strange and sounded strange (though she supposed she wasn't much one to talk, looking very odd herself). His voice was as smooth and slow as sweet honey, and he appeared to be not much older than Kalista. In spite of that, his short hair was light silver. The color of his murky eyes made them look like pools of green tea.

Kalista's first instinct was, to her great surprise, sentimental. Here was another weirdo, just like herself. Then she remembered that this boy was a potentially dangerous stranger. He _had _broken into her house, after all.

"Who are you?" Kalista demanded, sitting up.

The boy rolled his eyes. "You really were raised by a human, weren't you? You ask the same questions that they do when they meet a potentially dangerous stranger. I suppose next you'll say something along the lines of _why are you here _or _what do you want with me._"

"Yeah, that."

The little bat flew off the boy's shoulder and then landed on the blanket in front of Kalista. It cocked its leathery head and met her reddish eyes with its own dark ones. Almost immediately, Kalista heard a low voice speak inside her head.

_Do you remember me, dear one?_

The voice struck a chord somewhere in Kalista's memory. She thought hard, trying to remember where she had heard this sound before. The bat gazed at her intently, and blinked. _Maybe this will help._

Without warning, sudden images assailed Kalista's mind. She mentally saw the twelve-year-old form of Bryan Katsky from an aerial point of view. His mouth was open, and he looked terrified. He stood in the doorway of a barren room.

"You're the bat who attacked Bryan Katsky two years ago!" Kalista realized.

_My, I am so pleased that you remember me only as an assailant and not a lost friend, _the bat griped sarcastically.

Kalista winced at her scathing tone.

"Her name is Jewel," the boy said. Kalista detected something hidden in his voice. "Mine is Zero. Zero Rowning."

Kalista could suddenly sense that they were about to have an argument disguised as a conversation. "Do your parents know that you've infiltrated a stranger's house, Zero Rowning? Do they know that you're here?"

Zero frowned faintly. "Do yours?"

"My mother knows that I'm home."

"No, not that human. I meant your birth parents."

Jewel blinked at him.

A death dance, that was what this conversation was. "You know who my parents are?" Kalista tried and failed to keep her tone cool. She had never been particularly interested in her biological parents' identities before, but now that she knew that she _could _know them, she wanted to know.

"I've met them. But you're not finding out anything just yet," Zero answered mildly. "We're keeping that trump card for when we need it."

_Now, _Jewel said quickly, sending odd glances at Zero, _would you like us to answer those questions about us that you technically never asked but heavily implied that you would've asked? About why we're here and what we want from you?_

"No," Kalista said bluntly. "I want you to tell me who my parents are, and then leave."

_No._

"No."

"Well, that's not fair," Kalista stated. "You know who my parents are, which I don't even know myself, but you won't say anything about yourself."

"You have no idea what you're asking," Zero mumbled. "I wouldn't be so concerned with me right now if I were you."

"Don't try to change the subject, Zero."

"If you want to know who your parents were, I can respect that. But first, don't you want to know what _you _are, Kalista?"

"I know who I am," Kalista lied.

"No, you don't. You've spent nearly fourteen years thinking that you're a human."

"Which I am."

"Which you're not. Think, Kalista. How many humans have reddish eyes or purple hair? How many are bothered by pale sunlight? How many have fangs? How many of them thirst for blood and can taste nothing else? You're not a human, Kalista. Even if you're an idiot, which I don't believe you are, you should've realized that. You're a vampire."

"Liar," Kalista said at once. It was the first thing that came to mind.

_Not lying, _said Jewel.

"I'm a vampire too," Zero told Kalista.

"Still lying," Kalista shot back.

_Still not lying, _was Jewel's response to that.

Zero leaned close to Kalista, his face mere inches from hers. With one finger he pulled up his top lip, revealing a long pointed fang. Only instead of pure white, like Kalista's, his tooth was tinted with the faint remnants of a bloody red.

"Believe now?" Zero asked quietly.

"Okay," Kalista said very slowly, fighting to make herself sound calm. "So you're a vampire and a whole bunch of seemingly fictional horror novels will now have to be moved to the nonfiction section of the library. What does that have to do with me?"

"I told you, you're a vampire too."

_And therefore, you can't stay with these humans, _Jewel explained. _You don't belong here. We've come to take you away._

"So come with us, Kalista. To a home you should've lived in from the start."

_Hope you're happy. You can finally live among your own kind now._

"Wait!"Kalista exclaimed. "Sorry, but I missed the part where I agreed to run away with some lunatic."

Zero's gaze briefly sharpened, but then relaxed again. "Why wouldn't you agree? Don't you want Carol Belle to be safe?"

"Are you threatening her?" Kalista shouted. "Don't go anywhere near her!"

"Oh, I'm not the danger to her, Kalista," Zero said earnestly. "You are. Very soon you'll awaken as a full vampire, but as you're so young you won't be able to control your thirst well. If Carol were to get too close at the wrong time. . . ." He let the words hang in midair.

"I wouldn't hurt her," she mumbled bleakly, staring down at her hands.

"You don't know that. Bloodlust is a dominant instinct for vampires who've just awakened. And trust me; it's always the ones closest to you who get hurt first."

"No. I wouldn't," Kalista said softly, but her faith in that conviction was shaking. "No. No, no, no. . . ."

Zero smiled warmly. "Sorry, but I have to say it. _Yes."_

"NO!" Kalista cried, and then impulse kicked in. She threw back the covers and sprang out of bed, running full speed to and then out the door. She had no idea where she was going, and she didn't care either. All she cared about right now was doing what her instincts were telling her to do, and right now they were screaming at her to get as far away from Zero Rowning as she could. If she kept running away, then she could keep denying his words. She would never be forced to accept the idea that she could ever hurt Carol is she just kept running away. Away from Zero and away from his twisted concept of the truth. Away from it all.

Kalista rushed down the stairs and headed for the front door. But before she could get within five feet of it, Jewel unexpectedly darted past her and hovered in front of the door. So Kalista whirled around and headed for the back. Zero, however, was way ahead of her. He was already standing firmly in front of the back door, blocking her way.

"I'm disappointed," he said with a scowl. "I thought you were better than that, Kalista."

"Get the hell out of my house!" she shouted, but then started following her own advice. She threw open the nearest window and jumped out.

"Wait!" Zero cried. "Bad idea! It's sunny outside! You'll kill yourself!"

Too late. Kalista was already outside, and the sun was already beating down on her. Lightning-fast, dizziness assaulted her, and the same painfully throbbing sickness that she had felt earlier that day returned. Her mind went blank, her legs gave out, and she blacked out.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

When Kalista regained awareness, she found herself lying in her bed once more. The ceiling was spinning, and she waited for it to settle back in its right place again. Looking around, she saw that Zero Rowning was still there, Jewel on his shoulder. This time, however, he wasn't sitting on the edge of Kalista's bed. He was standing near the window, leaning against the wall. It was about as far away from Kalista as he could get without leaving the room. He looked both annoyed and resigned. Through the window that was next to him, Kalista saw that the sky was growing dark.

"Awake now?" Zero inquired, no longer pleasantly.

Kalista noticed the angry black patches on his face and hands. "Why are you covered in burns?"

"Because I had a sudden suicidal impulse which resulted in me nearly killing myself by going outside in the sun and then dragging you back indoors."

"Oh. I guess I should say thank you."

"And I guess I should say you're welcome."

"I'm still not going to let you take me away from here, thought."

"I know."

"You're okay with that?"

"You can't run away from who you are," Zero said simply. "But if that's what you want, then I see no harm in letting you _try_ for a little while."

"I won't hurt my mother," Kalista stated.

Zero sighed, and for one fleeting moment Kalista saw a surprising hint of vulnerability in his cloudy green eyes. "Kalista, I don't care one bit for Carol Belle. I don't even care much for humans in general. Except one. There was one human whom I spared second thoughts for. I told myself that I'd never hurt him. Instead, he ended up becoming my first victim. It hurt. For both him and me."

He opened the window. "Do me a favor, Kalista, and don't let yourself get into that situation. And consider this too: you'd also learn who your parents were, if you change your mind. I promise that if you come with us, I'll tell you whatever you'd like about them. Just think about it, okay? And rest assured, because we _will _be back."

With that he hopped out the window, leaving Kalista alone to contemplate what she had learned today in the darkness.


	5. Thirst

So if you're reading this, I'm assuming you know the basics of using a computer. And if you know that, then I bet you know that words can be underlined, **bold, **or _italicized._

It's obvious enough where underlining and bold got their names, but why are italics called italics? A person I know has a theory about that: slanted words are called italics as a reference to Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa. I haven't checked if this is true or not, but it sounds like a pretty good theory to me.

_Karin/Chibi Vampire _is not mine. It is the property of Yuna Kagesaki. Read this chapter. And then review. Say anything to me!

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Five: Thirst**

_Zero, that was absolutely ridiculous, _Jewel said as soon as she and Zero were a considerable distance away from Kalista's house.

_What was?_ he questioned.

_Everything! Really now, was it necessary to make up all that _bloodlust is a dominant instinct _trash? I think Kalista now has it in her head that she's going to murder Carol Belle if she doesn't come with us. And since when did you care for Axel any more than any other human? You barely knew him!_

_All right, so maybe I exaggerated a little._

_Exaggeration? That was not exaggeration! That was downright lying._

_It was mild exaggeration, Jewel._

_It was lying._

_Mild exaggeration._

_Lying._

_Mild exaggeration._

_Lying._

_Mild exaggeration!_

_Lying!_

And so forth.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

The next morning, out of pure spite Kalista went to school. She didn't care what Zero said, there was no way she was going to turn into some killing machine (or possibly just injuring machine, she hadn't gotten a clear idea of what happened to vampire victims from Zero). And to prove it, she was going to spend the next seven and a half hours sitting in rooms full of humans. Kalista was more than certain that she could keep her head throughout the day. It couldn't be too hard a test to pass.

She supposed she should've known better.

In Kalista's homeroom class, her assigned seat was next to Mary Falls, the quiet sandy-haired girl whom Nicky had asked the other day to try Kalista's "tasteless" sandwich. Mary was somewhat infamous for her clumsy fingers – at school, she was constantly bent over, picking up something that's slipped from her grasp. Today she dropped her pencil box on the floor soon after she sat down at her desk. It landed near Kalista's foot. Kalista picked it up and held it out for Mary, who mumbled a word of thanks. In the brief moment it took for the pencil box to make its way from Kalista's hand to Mary's, the girls' fingers touched each other for one quick split second. In that very instant, Kalista's blood pressure suddenly spiked.

Kalista abruptly yanked her hand away from Mary, feeling as though she'd been shocked by a bolt of lightning. She wished she could apologize to the other girl, for an expression of hurt had crossed Mary's face, but right then her throat had suddenly gone dry. Her pulse was beating rapidly. Kalista could hear her heartbeats thumping in her ears. Clearly that same nausea from yesterday was back with a vengeance, this time bringing with it some new side-effects.

Was this what bloodlust felt like? If it was, then Kalista figured she might as well get the heck out of the classroom. She didn't want to risk overestimating her own self-control, especially since, to be honest; she had no idea what she was doing. These were dangerous waters she was swimming in.

She raised her hand and asked the teacher, in the most normal-sounding voice she could manage (but still not sounding normal at all) for permission to go to the school nurse. She all but ran from the room.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

What Kalista really did was lock herself up in the girls' bathroom and sit down on the floor. It was easier than going to the nurse and then having to explain what was wrong with her. She wasn't sure how long she had to stay there. Her pulse had slowed, thankfully, but that aching sickness still remained.

It occurred to Kalista that if she reacted that intensely to one light touch from a human, how on earth was she going to continue living sanely amongst them for the rest of her life? The only answer she could think of for that was to not live among them at all, but she abhorred that idea.

But what would happen if she stayed? Wouldn't that put Carol and everyone else around her in danger? She didn't want to desert her "human" life, but she didn't want to hurt anyone near her either. Zero's words, unbidden, echoed in Kalista's mind. _It's always the ones closest to you who get hurt first. _Unwanted images of a mangled Carol flashed through Kalista's head. Then Kalista saw a terrifying image of herself, under the moonlight, her bright eyes seeming to glow. Her fangs were bared, and a snarl ripped from her lips.

Kalista put her head between her knees. There had to be a solution to this problem. There just had to be. . . .

A soft squeak reached Kalista's ears, and she turned her head in the general direction of the sound. She saw a bat hovering outside the tiny window, its gleaming eyes locked on her. Kalista was willing to bet her life that she knew who that was.

"Get out of here," she hissed.

Jewel blinked slowly, then turned around and flew quietly away.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

The next day, Thursday, was June nineteenth. After enduring an excruciating day at school, the first thing Kalista did when she arrived home was go to bed. She was exhausted, because she had spent the whole school day trying to avoid physical contact with any of her classmates. It didn't work, for she had discovered that just going _near _humans could also trigger a reaction from her. She didn't care at all that today was her fourteenth birthday.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Carol was concerned. She had no idea what was going on with her daughter, and she was bothered by the fact that Kalista refused to tell her. On top of that, nearly the whole day had passed and Carol had barely caught a glimpse of Kalista. Carol didn't like that she was spending almost no time with Kalista on her special day.

Carol walked upstairs to Kalista's room. She quietly pushed open the door and stepped inside. Kalista was already asleep. Carol gently sat down on her daughter's bedside, noticing that Kalista's hair was plastered to her face with sweat. She tucked one stray strand behind Kalista's ear. In the dim light of the moon shining through the far window, Carol saw that Kalista's expression was drawn-up tightly. She didn't look peaceful, not even in sleep. Carol sighed. What a shame, being ill on your own birthday.

Carol kissed her daughter's forehead once and murmured, "Happy birthday, love." Then she softly stood up and started to leave. But before she could take a step, Kalista's eyes fluttered open. Carol stepped backward in surprise. Normally her daughter's eyes were mostly dark with only a hint of garnet in them. But now they were completely red, and much brighter than usual. Her pupils were slits instead of circles. Kalista stared at Carol, and Carol stared back, seeing not her daughter but something else altogether; something strange and abnormal and quite possibly treacherous.

"Kalista?" Carol said tentatively. Her voice seemed exceptionally loud in the still darkness.

She never would've expected Kalista's response. Her daughter sprang out of her bed and lunged at her. Carol gasped in terror as Kalista, seemingly without a thought, threw her arms around her. The next thing she was aware of was a stabbing pain in her neck. After an acute sensation of intense pressure, all feeling died away. Everything was fading and fading and fading. . . .

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Kalista stared at the ground in horror. Her mother lay limp there, eyes closed. On her neck, two deep punctures made by Kalista's own teeth. And on Kalista's tongue, the lingering taste of fresh blood.

She heard her window open, and whipped around just in time to see Zero Rowning climb in with Jewel flying at his side. He took one glance at Carol, then one glance at Kalista, and then glanced back at Carol. When Zero's gaze shifted to Kalista the second time, there was a knowing smile on his face. In an infuriatingly smooth and honeyed tone, he said, "I believe now is an appropriate time for me to say '_I told you so_.'"


	6. Goodbye

**Six: Goodbye**

"Don't look so mortified," Zero said softly. "If you care to listen -"

"I'm not listening to a single word you say!" Kalista snapped.

He noticed that she was crying. Long, thick tears were trailing down her face, and she wasn't even trying to swipe them away.

He said: "I didn't ask you to listen to me, Kalista. Just to listen."

Confusion crossed her face. "Listen to what?"

Zero sighed wearily. "Can't you hear it?"

She didn't seem to comprehend. He watched her, studying her face, waiting for the girl to understand what he had meant. Neither of them spoke. Zero held his breath, stilling himself, trying to make the room as silent as possible. If it became quiet enough, the last few remaining sounds would take on a new quality, he knew. As the only audible things in the room, those little soft sounds would seem to float lightly in the air, drifting idly toward the ears of any who'd care to listen. When that happened, it would become obvious, what he meant. He knew she'd hear the steady beating of her mother's heart.

And she did.

"She's alive!" Kalista gasped.

"You didn't take enough blood to kill her," Zero confirmed.

Relief shone on Kalista's face, but it was short-lived and soon replaced with a storm of emotions. Fear, weariness, conviction. She looked at Zero with a resigned stare. "Zero -"

"Quiet," he cut her off.

Zero stooped down beside Carol's head and laid his hand on her face. He felt a welcoming sense of familiarity as he set about his task.

"What are you doing?" Kalista asked, suspicious.

"Erasing Carol's memories," he answered distractedly. "That way she won't remember your attack on her. She won't remember that you're a vampire."

"What? No! Stop!" Kalista cried.

Startled, Zero abruptly yanked his hand back. "Why?"

"Because I want her to remember me," she replied heatedly. "I made my choice, Zero. I'll run away with you, because I don't ever want to hurt my mom ever again. And that in turn is why she has to know who I am – what I am." The heat in her voice started fading, replaced by pure, simple sadness. "If I just disappear without explanation, she'll be hurt again. I need to tell her why I'm leaving her, and I need to tell her the truth. She deserves to know that her daughter is . . . is . . ."

Her voice trailed off, as if she didn't know how to end. Zero decided not to ask her to finish her sentence.

"Fine," he conceded. "Have it your way."

_What? _Jewel's incredulity echoed loudly through his mind. _You're going to let Carol Belle keep her memories for no reason other than because Kalista asked you to? You're going to let that human know of your race's existence? Zero, that would be –_

"But on one condition," Zero told Kalista, ignoring Jewel's qualms.

"Anything," was Kalista's immediate response.

"You have to swear Carol to secrecy," Zero said solemnly. "She's not allowed to ever, ever tell anyone that you're really a vampire. In fact, she can't ever tell anyone that vampires even exist. If she does, I will hunt her down and kill her. Okay?"

"Why? Why does she need to keep that secret?"

"Because," Zero said.

Silence.

"Because of what?" Kalista questioned.

"Because," Zero repeated simply.

"Because?"

"Because."

"Just because?"

"Because I said so."

"That's not an answer."

"Well too bad."

Kalista sighed. "I'll tell her that."

"Good girl." Zero stood up and headed for the still-open window. "How about we leave you alone so you can say good-bye? When you're ready to leave, you can just holler out the window. We'll come."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Carol's eyes fluttered open. Dazed, she sat up slowly. There was a slight discomfort in the base of her neck, she noticed, and out of first instinct she put her hand there. Carol felt a jolt of shock when her palm came in contact with a warm, damp liquid. She held that hand in front of her, and in the dim moonlight saw red on her skin. She gasped.

"Yeah, I know," came Kalista's voice. Carol realized that her daughter was in the room too, sitting on the edge of her bed.

Carol looked around, standing up while blinking. "Why am I lying on the floor of your bedroom?"

"Don't you remember?" Kalista asked, sounding worried. "I . . . I attacked you."

Blurry images worked their way into Carol's mind, the most vivid being Kalista's bright red eyes with slit pupils. "Oh, that's right. You . . . ."

Realization sank in. Carol's hand flew back to her neck. "You . . . ."

"Yeah," Kalista sighed. She met Carol's gaze evenly. "I finally found out, Mom. I found out why I'm so weird, why I don't seem to fit in anywhere, why Mendez wants me gone so badly."

_Found out? _Carol saw the melancholy look on Kalista's face. Alarm bells went off in her head, followed by a strong sense of impending doom. The weight of them both was crushing.

"I found out I'm a vampire," Kalista said.

Carol's every worst nightmare confirmed in one short sentence. She struggled vainly to find words to convey the rush of terror gripping her. Terror not because of Kalista's true identity, but of what would happen to her daughter because of that identity.

"Well," she said, her voice sounding like she was being strangled. "Well . . . you . . . I guess that means you're very special, then."

"Mom, please," Kalista pleaded softly. "Don't pretend nothing is going to happen. Big change is coming."

"Why?" Carol demanded. Reason was a lost concept to her now. "Nothing really has to change! So you're a vampire. That's no big deal. You haven't changed in my eyes, Kalista! I still love you. I still want you as a daughter. I wouldn't -"

"It's _me _who's going to cause the change, Mom," Kalista interrupted. "Not you. I'm not the only vampire in the world. There are others."

"So you're going to go away in search of other vampires?" Carol cried. The thought of her daughter leaving her all alone felt unbearable.

"Already found one. He's going to take me away to where the other vampires live. I'm going to be living among my own kind."

"No!" was Carol's first reaction. But she wasn't blind or deaf or stupid. She could see Kalista's steadily controlled face and the unwavering conviction depicted on it. She could hear it in her daughter's voice that Kalista believed with everything in her that she was doing the right thing. Kalista had her heart dead-set on the decision to leave.

And that hurt more than anything. The cold, hard truth became painfully clear to Carol: Kalista was rejecting her. She didn't find anything wrong with rejecting her. She didn't doubt her decision. It was so hard to believe, but the life Carol had worked so hard to make for her daughter simply wasn't enough for Kalista. She wanted more from her life.

"I thought I was doing the right things." Carol's voice, thick with newly formed tears, trembled. "What did I do that makes you want to leave me, Kalista?"

As the tears began streaming down her cheeks, Carol shut her eyes and held herself tight. She knew it was incredibly stupid to lock herself up like this, because it wasn't going to make her problem any less horrible, but she simply didn't know what else to do. She wasn't brave enough to face this.

Carol felt a hand on her shoulder, and forced herself to look up and meet her daughter's sympathetic gaze. Etched into Kalista's expression was the sort of weary, strange expression of someone who had seen and felt far more than a normal fourteen-year-old could've.

"You did nothing wrong," she murmured. "You're a wonderful mother. If I could avoid leaving you, I would. But I did something wrong. I hurt you, Mom. I can't let that happen again."

"It won't happen again! I'll -"

"No," Kalista said quietly. "You can't do anything. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing I can say to dissuade you, is there?" Carol asked sadly.

"Mom, don't you get it? I don't belong here, living amongst humans. I'm too different and too dangerous. It just wouldn't work."

"But this doesn't have to do with me?" Carol pleaded.

"Not in a bad way," Kalista replied honestly. "I want you to be safe, Mom. That's all there is to it."

"No, that's not all there is to it," Carol murmured. "You don't want to live with us humans. You want to be in that place where you really belong. Your true home. You've been looking for it for a long time, I know. I won't try to keep you away. Go."

Kalista wrapped her arms around Carol and hugged her tightly. "Will you be okay?"

Carol hugged her back, feeling like she never wanted to let go. "Okay?" she echoed disbelievingly. "Kalista, no parent ever wants to see their child grow up and leave them. But every parent also has to accept that it has to happen eventually."

"Will you remember me?"

"If I forget everything else in the whole world, I won't forget you. What I'm worried about is if _you'll _remember _me._"

"Forever," Kalista promised. Suddenly tears overwhelmed her too, and she pressed her face into Carol's shirt. "I don't want to leave you, Mom. I don't know if I can find a true home that doesn't have you in it."

"Could you visit me? Or is that impossible?"

"I don't know, but even if they tell me it's not, I'll try. I will try to see you again, Mom, I swear it. I'll try."

"Wish you luck . . ."

"One more thing," Kalista said. "You have to promise me that you'll never, ever, ever tell anyone that I'm a vampire. You can't even let anyone know that vampires exist. Please, Mom?"

"Why?"

"I don't know why. But there must be a reason out there somewhere – I just don't know it. And that's fine. I don't need to know everything."

"Then I don't suppose I need to either," Carol mused quietly.

Kalista could find no more to say. Neither could Carol. They sat there in their steady embrace, prolonging their final moments together for as long as they could. Kalista didn't want those moments to end. She wished that she could just freeze time and stay with Carol forever, because to be honest, she still didn't know how to give up her human life. The life she knew before was the only life she knew at all. She didn't know how she could ever live like a vampire if she hadn't even known she was one until very recently. How was she even going to let go of Carol and get out her window?

But let go she eventually did, all the while telling herself that the human world wasn't truly where she belonged. Wasn't that the message her heart had been telling her ever since preschool? Yet it still hurt to leave Carol Belle, and every step Kalista took seemed to tear her to pieces.

_I'm a vampire, _Kalista told herself. _Not a human. _She repeated those words over and over to herself, letting them propel her towards her window and away from her mother. Just three steps left . . . two . . . one.

Kalista opened her window. "Zero!" she called. "Zero Rowning!"


	7. Preferred Victim

Chapter seven is up! Boy, this one was pretty hard to write. But I finally got it done, so that's good.

And now for your weekend weather. Today's chapter will contain 41 degrees of awesomeness with a high chance of a review from you afterwards. Tomorrow will be partly cloudy as your head will be elsewhere, thinking about this cool chapter, which by the way starts right now.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Seven: Preferred Victim**

"Are you crying?" Zero asked.

At this time Kalista wasn't sure whether it was late Thursday night or early Friday morning. She and Zero had walked a good distance away from Carol's house now, with Zero leading the way, Jewel hovering close by, and Kalista having no idea where they were going. The moon was still shimmering dimly in the sky. Not a light was on, not a single car or person outside. If it weren't for the chirping crickets and the vampires' footsteps on the sidewalk, there would be no sound at all.

Kalista wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She was tired. She didn't want to answer. "Because."

Zero was silent, waiting for the rest of her sentence. It never came, because there was no more to it.

"Because of what?" he questioned.

"Just because, Zero."

He caught on. "That's not fair."

"Life's not fair."

Still walking, he glanced back over his shoulder to look at her. "Is that why you're crying? Because life's not fair?"

"Not everything has a reason."

"Is _that _why you're crying? Because not everything has a reason?"

He was looking at her with an expectant expression. But why should she have to tell him anything? He was nothing to her, after all. Nothing more than a stranger, and a deranged one at that. Why should she open up the inner chambers of her heart to some vampire?

But then, out of nowhere, a scene from _The Village in the West_ flashed through her mind. She could see the characters and the landscape in vivid detail, the result of numerous re-readings of her favorite novel.

It was Chris and Gilbert's first encounter with each other. Gilbert, not recognizing Chris due to the time of night and the lack of moonlight, had followed him around for an hour. He could tell that something was bothering Chris, and wanted to know what was on his mind. Chris hadn't been amused.

"_Why should I tell you anything?" Chris shouted._

"_Do you trust me?" Gilbert demanded._

"_No!"_

"_Well, too bad, because you're going to have to if you want me to stop bothering you!"_

There really had been no reason why Chris should've trusted that stranger. He'd taken a leap of faith, telling Gilbert about his troubles. It wasn't something most people would consider.

That stranger later became his best friend.

Kalista murmured to Zero, "The ironic thing is, while I was living with humans, I didn't like them at all. But now that I'm leaving them, I'm already missing them. I don't know if I can leave anymore."

"Sure you can," he responded. "You're doing it now, aren't you?"

"Zero, I was brought up as a human, by a human. Living like a human is all I know. I don't understand anything about being a vampire."

"You'll get used to it," he answered simply.

Good grief, what had ever convinced her to answer his question? Kalista glanced backwards, knowing she wouldn't see the house she wanted to see. "Even if I did get used to it, I don't know if it would be right. Can anywhere be my true home if it doesn't have my mom in it?"

"You know, there's a saying out there. I don't remember how it goes exactly, but I think it went something like, _nobody realizes they're in the wrong place until they're born into the wrong family. _If your true home was meant to have Carol in it, then you never would've realized you were in the wrong place at all, because you wouldn't be."

"How do people do this?" Kalista complained. "How do people always find themselves in the end?"

"They don't," Zero replied wearily. "They just go ahead and live, and if they're happy, then good for them. Nobody can ever know everything about him- or herself, so they settle for just knowing a little bit." He paused. "Personally, though, I don't think there even is such thing as a true home. I've been searching for years and I never found anything. So don't worry about Carol not being here with you."

A long silence greeted his words. Zero looked at Kalista, and she looked back at him, and their eyes met and something significant happened there, but Kalista didn't know what. She only knew that after their gazes slipped from each other's eyes, she found herself asking, "Zero, who I am supposed to be?"

"No idea. You're on your own with that."

"I thought so."

Jewel fluttered to Kalista's side and alighted on her shoulder. _Let me ask you something, dear one, _she said. _The other day when we were all in your room, what did you imagine when Zero and I told you we would take you to live among your own kind? Did you envision some sort of hidden underground fairyland full of other vampires?_

Kalista started. "You mean that's not what it is?"

_No. Where we're taking you is hardly worth a dime, and I mean that almost literally. There's no secret village. Well, unless you think a population of three-going-on-four counts as a village, that is. We used a good deal of . . . mild exaggeration_ – (she nearly gagged on those words) – _on_ _our first visit to your house. We were trying too hard to get you to come with us._

"Why? What do I mean to you?"

_At the time, you meant a threat to the vampire race. You didn't know you had a secret to keep, so you wouldn't have cared if you threw it away. If humans discover one vampire, they'll realize that there are others. Much as we'd all like to deny it, the only reason why vampires can still live today is because humans are so certain that such beings don't exist. We thought that taking you away from humans would be the same as saving the vampire race. And _I_ still think that._

Kalista noticed the bat's word choice. "But Zero doesn't anymore?"

Zero automatically glanced their way at the sound of his name. Jewel shook her head at him, and he returned his eyes to the path they were walking on.

_No, he probably does, _Jewel answered dully. _But not so strongly anymore. He let Carol keep her memories of you attacking her, didn't he?_

"But Mom would never tell anyone. She promised. She doesn't break her promises."

_Yes, he seems to believe that._

"It's going to be rainy this morning," Zero suddenly said. "That's good."

Kalista frowned, puzzled. "That reminds me, I have no idea where we're going."

"Technically we're going to Truze City, but with one stop on the way. You know Truze City, don't you?"

"I went there on a field trip in sixth grade," Kalista said. "What's the one stop on the way?"

"We're going hunting," he replied.

"What?" A trickle of cold fear ran down Kalista's spine as comprehension dawned on her.

Zero confirmed her fears. "I'm teaching you how to hunt. And luckily for you, I know the best hunting spot in all of town."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

"_My_ _school?" _Kalista shrieked.

Sitting oh-so-pleasantly in front of her was the big school building Kalista went to on every weekday morning. The school seemed to mock her, the gaping windows and silent doors making the scene all too quiet to suit the icy hand of terror that was gripping her heart. What was Zero thinking? The whole reason why Kalista had left home was because she hadn't wanted to hurt the people she cared about. And now he was expecting her to hunt her own classmates!

"Also known as the best hunting spot in town," Zero said, far too casually. "Every form of emotion can be found here – anxiety, stress, frustration, misery, loneliness, envy, the works."

_Young humans are always so emotional, _Jewel mused.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kalista demanded.

"Everything," Zero responded. As he said that, a low rumble emitted from the pearly grey sky. Scattered droplets of water began gently falling down around them.

"You probably have the impression that when vampires drink from humans, we take nothing but blood," he continued.

Kalista blinked. "Isn't that the way it is?"

"No. In fact, it's not really blood we want. It's an emotion, which for some reason or another can be taken through the blood. When you drink from a human, you take an emotion out of them."

"So . . . isn't that even worse than just taking blood?"

"Uh . . . maybe. I don't know. Anyway," he went on, disregarding the death glares that Kalista was shooting him, "you should know that the emotion taken from humans differs from vampire to vampire. It's called blood preference, which the emotion you take from humans when you bite them is based on. For example, if your blood preference were anxiety, you would take the anxiety out of every human you bit."

The raindrops were now beating down more heavily than before, but neither Zero nor Jewel appeared in any hurry to get out of the wet. In fact, Jewel was turning her small round face up towards the grey sky, welcoming the cold water that was soaking her leathery skin.

"Does that mean drinking humans' blood is actually a good thing?" The thought was incredibly alien to Kalista.

"Uh . . . I guess. I don't think anybody actually thinks about that."

Kalista scowled.

Zero glanced at the big round clock that was stuck into the school's front wall. "School time should start in a couple hours or so, right? Here's what I think you should do –"

"No."

Zero blinked. Kalista's newly-awakened vampire vision was so sharp that she could make out the tiny raindrops dripping from his eyelashes. "No, what?"

"No, I'm not doing anything you say," Kalista answered, taking a defiant stance. "Didn't you hear anything I said back at my – I mean my mom's – house? The whole reason why I left was because I didn't want to hurt anybody. I'm not going to break that promise now, or ever."

"Correction," Zero said pointedly. "You only said you didn't want to hurt Carol again. 'Carol' doesn't extend to other people. And you never promised. You just stated."

"Same thing."

"No, it's not."

"Well, it should be!"

"But it's not, so just shut up already."

"You're a brute!"

"Yes, I am," Zero replied cheerfully.

Running out of steam for the petty argument, Kalista just stared angrily at Zero. It was a tactic she had seen Carol use on Dr. Mendez. Her mother would glare at the doctor with her eyes squared and then Dr. Mendez would respond by determinedly glaring back. He'd never suspect that their staring contest was really just an excuse to buy Carol time to think up what to say next. He always thought that she was just trying to match wills with him.

Zero, however, didn't glare back at Kalista. In fact, he lowered his head so that she couldn't see his cloudy green eyes. "Do you still care for Carol's life?" he asked in a rough whisper.

"Are you threatening her?" As if on cue, a dramatic thunderclap boomed loudly just as Kalista finished that sentence.

"I guess you could say that, but I think of it more as threatening _you,_" he stated uncaringly. He raised his head again, this time slightly baring his sharp teeth in a manner that made Kalista think about how capable he was of tearing Carol to shreds. "You see, Kalista, after all the trouble Jewel and I went through to get you out of human society, I'm not about to let you starve yourself to death now. And just so you know, I don't have any high moral standards on this stuff. I'm willing to sink as low as I need to."

"I don't believe you."

"Really? But this is too important to take chances on, isn't it?"

"This is _so _not fair."

"Whoever said life was fair?"

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Mary Falls walked into her homeroom class and sat down in her assigned seat just like she did every school day. Glancing to her left, she saw that her desk neighbor, Kalista Belle, was very jittery. She was chewing on her bottom lip and distractedly jiggling her feet. Mary didn't think much of this behavior. Kalista was probably just anxious for the end of the day to come. It was the last day of school. In fact, she wasn't the only one acting impatient. There were quite a few kids in the class who were also drumming their feet in anticipation to go.

Mary knew that going to school today must've been hard on the other girl, who had been sick almost all week. Suddenly she wanted to do something nice for her classmate, no matter how trivial. She leaned a little bit closer to Kalista and said kindly, "Good morning, Kalista."

Kalista Belle smiled at her in response. Then suddenly her reddish eyes widened and she abruptly turned her head away, her hand pressed tightly over her mouth. Mary, alarmed, quickly said, "Are you okay? I have a paper bag in my locker; do you need it?"

"No, no." Kalista grimaced as she slowly removed her hand from her face. "I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Her response was so firm that Mary knew Kalista would say no more on the subject. Mary decided to leave the matter well alone, though she felt a bit uneasy with the decision. Trying to act normal, she examined her box of markers and wondered which one had the most ink left in it. She didn't want to run out of ink in the midst of signing yearbooks.

"Mary," Kalista mumbled.

"You need that bag?"

"No. I just wanted to tell you . . . ."

Kalista trailed off here. A few times her mouth opened slightly, curving around a word and trying to speak, but her voice always died on her tongue. Mary grew concerned; this was starting to look like more than last day jitters.

"I want to show you something," Kalista finally said. Her voice was slow and halting, like she wasn't sure she really wanted to say what she was saying. "Can you come with me after class?"

Mary was surprised. Sure, she and Kalista were on relatively friendly terms. They knew each other's names, they had a few of the same classes, and they might even exchange pleasant hellos if they passed each other by in the hallway. But they certainly weren't what could be called friends. What could Kalista possibly have to show Mary that she couldn't show someone she knew better, like her friend Nicky Williams? Even knuckle-headed Robbie Arlington would've been a better candidate to turn to; at least everyone knew and liked him.

"What do you want to show me?" Mary asked reasonably.

A spark of alarm flared in Kalista eyes. It tempered itself quickly but didn't quite go away. "I'd prefer not to tell you in the middle of this classroom."

That just made Mary even more perplexed. Why would Kalista turn to her? What did Mary mean to the other girl? Still, no one could ever accuse Mary of turning her back to anybody. Maybe this would all make sense once she actually saw whatever it was Kalista wanted to show her, she thought.

"Okay, then. After class," Mary promised.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

"Kalista?" Mary Falls almost had to shout to be heard over the roaring wind. "Why are we on top of the roof in the middle of a thunderstorm?"

Kalista barely heard her. Despite the lashing rain, she felt hot and dry inside. Her ears felt like they were being stabbed by tiny blades. She could feel her fangs slipping out of her gums in anticipation, ready to bite into a potential victim's throat.

This was wrong. It felt like betrayal to the human race. But it had to be done, for Carol's sake. Kalista wouldn't kill the other girl. Just take a little blood. That wouldn't hurt too badly, would it? People could live with a little blood loss.

"C'mere!" Kalista requested, hating how hoarse her voice sounded. When had her throat gotten so dry? Could Mary even hear her over this pounding rain?

"Where's the thing you wanted to show me?" Mary hollered, stepping closer to Kalista.

Kalista could distinctly hear every one of her frenzied heartbeats. It was clear that Mary's blood matched whatever her preference was. Nothing else could cause this kind of reaction, according to Zero.

_Don't think, _he had told her. _Just do it._

Mary blinked. "Kalista?"

_Just start._

Quickly, unthinkingly, Kalista threw her arms over Mary's shoulders and opened her mouth up wide; her fangs began closing in on the other girl's throat. Rain still pounded down like heavy hands on bongo drums, wind still raged like the angry black waves of a storm-whipped ocean. Kalista didn't notice it at all. The only thing on her mind was the warm blood-filled throat of the helpless victim in her grasp. _Just do it. No hesitating_.

Mary screamed.

The piercing sound broke a wall in Kalista mind, violently shattering it into millions of sharp pieces. Suddenly her senses were back, and she realized for the first time just what it was she was doing. Horrified, Kalista jerked abruptly away from the other girl.

"Can't . . . can't do this," she gasped to herself. There was something wet in her eyes, and whether it was rain or tears she couldn't tell. "I can't . . . do this." And she took another step away from her frightened classmate.

"Kalista?" Mary's voice trembled. "Kalista, what's going on? I don't understand. Did I do something wrong?"

And then suddenly Kalista's bloodlust became so strong she practically saw red. There was no turning back now, no chance to hesitate or change her mind. Once again she yanked Mary close, and her fangs sunk themselves deep into the other girl's neck.

Cold rain mingled with the hot blood that flowed into her mouth.


	8. Overtied Knots

According to Yuna Kagesaki, Henry and Calera Marker are the only vampires to have had multiple children in the last century. You don't mind if I disregard that, do you? Because I'm going to do that anyway.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Eight: Over-tied Knots**

It was like the scene with Carol all over again, only this time it was even worse. Mary had fallen, and she now lay immobile at Kalista's feet, just like Carol had done. Kalista couldn't deny her actions, much as she wanted to; she could clearly see the punctures her fangs had made on Mary's neck.

She blinked a few times, and out of nowhere Zero Rowning was there on the roof with her. He absentmindedly glanced at Mary before bringing his gaze to Kalista. "Why?" he asked.

"Why, what?"

"Why did you hesitate?"

So he'd been watching. "What do you think?" Kalista snapped.

He didn't answer for several moments, instead just staring at her like she was some complicated puzzle he couldn't work out. Finally, he spoke again. "There's this poem I know . . . 'You might as well die now if you're going to waver/ No one's going to come and be your savior/ Fight for yourself and fight fiercely to live/ Don't hesitate either, take initiative.'"

"Who said that?"

"I did; didn't you just hear me?" Zero then spared another glance at Mary Falls. "Did you find out what your blood preference is?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Well, you should've been able to tell from the taste."

"I wasn't paying attention to that."

Zero sighed exasperatedly. "Kalista, I can tell you without a shadow of doubt that you're the first vampire in the history of vampires who ever drank blood without tasting it."

"Well then yay for me, I just made history," Kalista answered sourly.

He made a face. "Fine. You can find out next time. Erase the girl's memory so we can be on our way."

"Erase it?" Kalista exclaimed in alarm. "I don't know how – I mean I don't want – I can't hurt her even _more_."

"For crying out loud," Zero muttered, but Jewel swooped down and alighted on Mary's forehead. _I'll do it, dear one, don't worry about it right now, _she told Kalista.

"Thank you," Kalista said, immensely grateful. Then she glowered at Zero, who was still looking thoroughly irate. Instantly on edge again, she demanded, "What's your problem?"

"My problem is you and your refusal to accept who you are," he stated flatly. "You're an over-tied knot, you know that? You're bound too tightly to your old life and you can't loosen those bonds."

"And why is that a problem?"

Zero didn't answer, because Jewel fluttered to Kalista before he had the chance. _I'm done, _the bat announced. _The girl no longer remembers this encounter with you. And if you're still interested in knowing, I think I've nailed down your blood preference._

"Is that something I might want to know?"

Jewel mentally told her, _Probably, _at the same time Zero said the same thing out loud.

"Then tell me."

Jewel cocked her head. _It's actually kind of complicated, hence my use of the words, "I think." I'm not sure if they've invented a word for your blood preference yet._

"Guess," Zero said.

_I'd say it's something like . . . insecurity, or . . . yearning, or . . . confusion. Something like that. I think I know it from somewhere – it's right on the edge of my mind – but I'm just not sure._

"I know the feeling," Kalista said. _I know that feeling real well, _she thought to herself. "The feeling of being lost.'"

_Interesting blood preference. Some people say that only a few people are ever dissatisfied with their homes. Others say almost everyone feels out of place, thus the invention of the term "soul-searching." You're either going to have a really hard time or a really easy time hunting now. I'm not sure which._

"And I'm not sure which is worse."

_You have plenty of time to think about it. _Jewel ruffled her leathery wings like a bird would ruffle its feathers. _For now, though, we head for Truze City._

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Kalista started to think Zero was right to call her an over-tied knot. No matter what, she always seemed to go back to something, instead of traveling forward. She and Zero had walked a couple miles further, leaving her old hometown's borders, before boarding a public bus to Truze City. The trip seemed awfully similar to her sixth grade field trip, complete with the hairpin turn and an annoying merry crowd singing _Ninety-nine Bottles of Pop on the Wall._

They got off at the same street Kalista's school bus had stopped at in her past field trip. And then they walked to the same ramshackle building Kalista had walked into when she had been eleven. Kalista knew it was the same building because of its dilapidated state, the trademark boarded-up windows, and the inexplicable safe feeling she got from the place.

"Welcome to the Truze House," Zero whispered. "Also known as your new home, whether you like it or not."

The door creaked and groaned loudly when Zero swung it open, just like it had when Kalista had opened it over two years ago. They stepped inside, and Zero closed the door behind them. There was almost no light inside, due to the wood planks curtaining the windows. This didn't trouble Kalista, because she could see perfectly well in the dark, a trait she now knew was a result of her vampiric nature. And with that ability, she saw that the place was almost exactly the same as the way it was before. The tiny beat-up table and the tiny beat-up chairs were still there, but there was someone Kalista had never before met sitting in one of those chairs.

He was a young boy; younger than Kalista herself, yet his short hair was light silver. He wore a plain red T-shirt and black pants and his eyes were closed; he was bobbing his head in time to the steady music that drifted from the old beat-up radio Kalista remembered from her past trip there.

He didn't open his eyes when he said, "Welcome home, people," in a high, creaky voice.

"Syl!" Zero exclaimed. "It's the middle of the afternoon! What are you doing up this early?"

_Early? _Kalista thought incredulously. _Oh, right, afternoon is early in vampire time._

"Whatcha think?" the younger boy questioned. "I was waiting for you, which you said I didn't need to do, because you said you'd be, 'right back.' Yeah. Like I haven't heard that one before." The boy opened his eyes now, revealing warm, clear brown irises that were a stark contrast to Zero's cold green ones. Those light brown eyes widened when their owner caught sight of Zero.

"_What the?"_ the boy yelled, jumping to his feet. "Zero, where'd those burns come from?"

"The sun," Zero replied flatly.

"Uh, yeah, go figure." The boy then fixed his stare on Kalista. "Who's this?"

"Kalista Belle." The way Zero said her name made it clear she had been talked about here before.

At this the young boy's eyes lit up like holiday lights. "That's great! That means mission accomplished, huh? Yay!"

Then he roughly smashed his hand against one of the nearby coffins. "Now, get in this coffin and don't come out until all the burns are gone," he ordered loudly.

"Syl –"

"Syl nothing, man." The boy – Kalista figured his name must be Syl – eyed Zero warily. "Sheesh, just how long ago did you get those wounds? They look like they've been there a while."

_Tuesday, _Jewel answered when Zero remained silent.

"Tuesday! Then he should've slept them off by now!" Syl scowled at Zero. "Or are you going to tell me you haven't slept at all?"

"Shut up."

"Get in the damn coffin and you won't have a reason to want me to shut up."

Instead of waiting for the older vampire to comply, Syl kicked over the lid of the coffin and all but shoved Zero into it. Jewel trembled as Syl slammed the lid back on. Syl shot the bat a grin, and Kalista realized that Jewel was trembling with laughter. The bat flew up to a support beam on the ceiling, hung upside-down, and closed her eyes to sleep as well. Syl then returned his attention to Kalista, smiling pleasantly at her.

"Hey, there," he said amiably. "You tired? We brought in a new coffin for you." He gestured toward the one change in the building Kalista had spotted earlier – a third coffin, a noticeable addition to the two that had been there years ago.

"I'm not really that tired." Which was a total lie, but Kalista had a feeling that if she went to sleep now she'd have nightmares. Nightmares involving herself, humans she cared about, and a lot of blood. "So your name is Syl?"

"Sylvester, actually, but I'm deciding I like you, so you can call me Syl."

"And you're friends with Zero?"

"His brother," Syl replied cheerfully, which due to his demeanor was the about last answer Kalista expected.

"You . . . don't say."

Sylvester Rowning gestured toward the tiny beat-up table. "Sit down? If you can stand me, I have so much I want to say to you."

So they took seats on opposite ends of the table. Syl shut off his radio and lay his chin in his hands. "Watcha want me to call you? Kalista?" he asked.

"Sure. I've never gone by another name."

"And you've just awakened?"

Kalista had hardly ever used that term before, so it took her a few seconds to realize what Syl meant. "Oh. Uh, yeah."

"Lucky! I'm only twelve, so I've still got two or so more years to go."

The idea that anyone could actually look _forward _to becoming a bloodthirsty menace to the human race was foreign to Kalista. In her shock, she nearly missed Sylvester's next question: "What's your blood preference?"

"Um . . . they haven't exactly invented a word for it yet."

"Cool! So that means it's a mystery?"

"Not really. There's just not one word for it."

"Then tell me all the words. We've got time."

He had his arms pressed against the table, supporting him as he leaned slightly toward Kalista. It felt sort of flattering to know by Syl's posture that he was giving her his full attention, his mind not wandering off. It made Kalista trust him inexplicably, and she felt almost compelled to speak to him.

"The feeling of being out of place," she answered.

"Ohhhhhhhh," Syl drew out the word. "Yeah, that ain't good."

"Why isn't it good?"

"Because," Syl said, and for a second Kalista thought he was just going to leave it at that like his brother would do. Her assumption was proven wrong when Sylvester said the rest of his sentence. "Well, blood preference tells a lot about a vampire. Usually it has something to do with . . . well, you. You know, so vampires that are stressed-out a lot have stress as their preference, and vamps that always miserable have misery as theirs. Stuff like that. If the out-of-place feeling is yours, then it probably means you've been feeling out of place."

He had no idea. "So does that mean it's a good thing I left there for here?" Kalista puzzled.

Syl blinked, an incredulous look spreading across his face. "_You _left? As in, Zero gave you a choice?"

"Good point; not really. How'd you know?"

"Duh. I know my brother. When he set off to go fetch you, I kinda got the impression he wasn't going to mind lying or faking deals or using elaborate loopholes to do it. Or, at least, _pretending _that he didn't mind that stuff." Syl sighed dramatically. "I guess now I'll have to pick around and inspect the damage he did. Hey, Zero didn't offer you info about your parents by any chance, did he?"

"N– yes." He had, she remembered. But all the going-ons of the previous days had driven the offer clean out of her mind. Her biological parents hardly seemed important now, next to attacking Carol, attacking Mary, and the forced move to Truze City. Besides, Kalista doubted she could ever call anyone but Carol her mother. "He said he met them."

Syl groaned. "Stupid liar. He don't know anything."

"He doesn't?"

"I'd bet my life he doesn't," Syl declared.

Well, that was okay. It wasn't like she cared much about that matter, anyway.

"How old are you?" Syl asked suddenly.

The sudden question seem to come from left field, catching Kalista off-guard. "Thir– fourteen. I just turned fourteen."

"Zero's seventeen," Syl informed her. "And a half," he added as an afterthought. "So if he really did meet your parents, he'd have to have been three and a half at the oldest. People usually don't remember things from when they're three and a half."

"You talk like you think my parents are dead," Kalista said in a monotone.

"That's the only explanation I can think of," Syl stated lightly. "You wouldn't know this, but vamp kids are treasured more than treasure. No way would any set of parents out there be careless enough to lose their daughter unless they were dead." He sighed and tilted his chair back on its hind legs. "Dang, I feel stupid now. Zero loves to make up crazy stories – I shoulda asked him not to before he left."

"Don't blame yourself!" Kalista said at once. "Besides, I doubt you could've stopped him; he was really set on what he was doing." She'd figured that out from the threats he'd made against Carol. Kalista unconsciously shivered as she recalled his menacing words.

Syl must've caught her shiver. He sighed again, this time in exasperation. "More and more, I wonder what he must've told you. Let me tell you something. Zero wouldn't have done half the things he said he would – he'd be way too scared."

Syl suddenly grinned widely, and continued on in a much more light-hearted tone. "Heck, you're stronger than him, I bet. You're starting all over, remaking your life almost from scratch and taking no prisoners. Zero tried that once, and he ended up bringing me and Jewel along for the ride. Not that I blame him, of course – we're just way too awesome to leave behind – but still. He's nothing on you."

"You know, I really wish I'd known that earlier, _before _he started making threats to my family."

"He what!" Syl shot a furious look at Zero's coffin. "That's it. That's going too far. When he wakes up I am going to kick his shins to breakage."

"No, I'll confront him," Kalista said quickly. "I don't mean to tear a rift between you and your brother."

"Too late. It's already there," Syl remarked. "But forget about my messed-up family for now. Just worry about yourself. I know I will."

Kalista felt puzzled. "What's with the big interest in me?"

"I like the novelty," he replied cheerfully. "Bet you don't know this, but I haven't talked to another vampire besides Zero in like five or six years until now."

"You haven't? Why? Is it because you can't find another one?"

"Well, that's part of it, but it's mostly because of Zero. He apparently has some kind of feud going on with the rest of the world." Syl shrugged. "Don't ask me what it's about, though, 'cause I don't know the answer. I was only, like, six or seven when it started. And he doesn't talk about it."

"Well, I feel bad now," Kalista mumbled. "Earlier today, I was thinking about ditching you all and running back to the human world. I didn't know you wanted someone new to talk to."

"Watcha feeling bad for?" Syl demanded. "It's great that you love your old life. It means you were happy. Happiness is good."

Carol had indeed been wonderful. But no, her life before wasn't necessarily happy. Just _happier._ "I'm an over-tied knot," Kalista murmured thoughtfully, remembering what Zero had said to her before. For some reason the words were stuck in her mind. "I'm tied so tightly to my old life that I can't undo or even loosen the knots in me. Now I'm being pulled in the direction of a new life in the vampire world, but since I can't let go of my old life I'm bound to break under all the strain eventually. Just like a rope."

"Ropes break; you don't. Hang on for as long as you can, doll. Don't let go until you have to." He laid it all out so simply, unable to see all the unnoticed shades of grey in his words.

"Um . . . I'll see about that, Syl."


	9. Interrogations

When I first came up with Sylvester's character, his name instantly popped into my head. And I thought, _No, don't name him Sylvester. People will think of that cartoon cat._ But somehow the name stuck and nothing else felt the same way. Oh well.

Please review!

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Nine: Interrogations**

Kalista hadn't been kidding when she'd told Sylvester that she planned to confront his brother. Perhaps it had started out as a spontaneous flyaway comment, but the more she thought about it, the better the idea seemed to get. Instead of sleeping, she'd spent most of the rest of the day contemplating what she would say to Zero when she next saw him, and not just because it was a good distraction from the highly disturbing fact that she was lying in a coffin.

It wasn't like she wanted to create some dramatic interrogation scene. She just wanted . . . a confirmation. That was it. She wanted Zero to confirm what Syl had told her the afternoon before – that he truly wasn't a threat to Carol in any way. Oh, and that stuff about her birth parents. That would be nice too. But it was mostly Carol that Kalista was concerned about.

Somewhere in the evening, sleep managed to come and take hold. When Kalista next woke up, it was dark, so her first instinct was to keep sleeping. Then she remembered that it was supposed to be dark when she woke up, because she was now on a vampire cycle. Today – or rather tonight – was June 21st. Saturday.

Kalista pushed the lid of her coffin away, sat up, and stretched. She had expected to be sore all over, because of the coffin's hard interior. Instead, she felt just fine, as if she'd been sleeping in a regular bed rather than a cold rigid surface. That came as a surprise for Kalista. She recalled a time from when she'd been four years old and didn't comprehend the value of good sleep. Out of curiosity, for one night Kalista slept on the hard floor next to her bed rather than the bed itself. She'd felt terrible in the morning, her body aching crazily. She wondered why she wasn't in that state now.

But she didn't ponder this for long, because she noticed that she wasn't the only one awake. Her coffin was in one corner of the Truze House. Looking out towards the other side of the room gave her a diagonal view of Zero Rowning, who sat in the same rickety chair his brother had occupied the afternoon before.

He was staring down at something on the table with a pen in his right hand. Jewel lay sprawled on the tabletop, close by Zero's empty left hand. With her head she was inattentively pushing the pen's blue cap back and forth across the span of six inches. She looked bored, and seemed to have already been in that bored state for a while. Zero paid no attention to her, his focus entirely on whatever he was doing. Kalista silently stood up for a better view, and now saw the piece of plain white paper lying in front of the other vampire. He'd written something, and was eyeing the one line carefully, appraising it, judging whether that sentence was worthy of page space.

Then, in one fluid motion, he crossed out the line with his pen, striking the words down right through the center. Jewel spared him an idle glance before continuing her dull game of fiddling with the pen's cap. A second later, the bat's head shot back up again and she did a double-take at the sight of Kalista. For a second time Jewel looked at Zero, saying silent words to him that Kalista didn't hear. His hand stilled.

Without turning to face her, Zero said, "You look like you want something. What?"

Having only just woken up, Kalista wasn't in a particularly confrontational mood, but then again, there was no time like the present. "Look at me when you're talking to me."

He ignored her request and didn't budge. And Kalista, without really realizing what she was doing, crossed the room and walked around the table so they ended up face-to-face anyway. She stared at him unwaveringly, and he stared back at her, his gaze impassive, his eyes cloudy as always.

"What?" he finally demanded after several seconds.

"I had a talk with your little brother last night," Kalista began evenly.

_Oh, boy, _Jewel thought with trepidation.

Something flickered in Zero's expression. "And?" he prompted.

"Syl had some interesting things to say about you."

Zero replied, "They're probably not true," at the exact same time that Jewel responded, _They're definitely all true._

It was pretty obvious to Kalista which one of them was the liar there. "Syl gave me the impression that you're quite the storyteller, Zero," she continued. "Apparently you told a very convincing one about meeting my birth parents, even though you actually know nothing about them. Is that true?"

It was hard to tell, since reading bats' expressions wasn't Kalista's forte, but she had a feeling the look Jewel was shooting Zero was one of smugness. _Well, Zero, I did warn you that she was going to call you up on this sooner or later._

Zero sighed a little bit, tiredly. "It doesn't matter, Jewel. Syl's probably already told her everything, anyway."

"Oh, gee," Kalista muttered. "I guess I know the truth now. You know nothing about my parents after all. Why did you lie to me?"

"Didn't Jewel tell you? I was protecting the vampire race. Something like that calls for drastic measures."

"Really?" She didn't miss the hole he'd left in his statement. "If you really were willing to go so far for the sake of your race, then why were you so quick to agree when I asked you to spare my mom's memory?"

_You know, I'd really like to know the answer to that too, _Jewel groused.

"Do you really want to complain about that, Kalista?" Zero challenged. "Because if I want to, I can run straight back Carol's house right now and finish what I started."

"No, you wouldn't," Kalista said coolly. "You don't mean that, the same way you didn't mean any of those other threats you made to my mom. You never would have hurt her."

He frowned; his eyebrows rose slightly. "_That_ one I'll have to disagree with. I may have lied about everything else, but in regards to Carol, I meant every word I said."

Kalista stared blankly at him. "No you didn't."

"Why wouldn't I have?" he asked plainly. "Carol Belle means nothing to me – she's just another human. If I had to choose between her and the rest of our race, the answer is obvious."

"You can't be serious!" Kalista exclaimed, sounding more panicked than she would've liked.

"I'm dead serious," he replied in a dead tone.

"Don't even joke about that!"

"I'm not joking."

He really wasn't. Or, hopefully, he _thought_ he wasn't. Either way, Kalista felt sickened. "Zero, do you have any idea what you're saying? Threaten my mom, and you can have me in the palm of your hand. You're not supposed to take having that power over someone so lightly!"

"I'm not taking it lightly," he insisted flatly.

"I think you are – that's why you won't take back the threats." She glared at him fiercely. "Do you know how much my mom means to me? You took that love and manipulated it. That makes me sick! Why would you do that?

He sighed, annoyed rather than repentant. "I had good intentions. It's not my fault that they didn't turn out the way I planned. Kind of reminds me of that Gilbert guy in your favorite book . . ."

It took Kalista a long moment to register what Zero had just said. Then, finally, comprehension sluggishly crept in down the racetrack, crossing the finish line into her mind with rage right on its heels.

"How did you know _The Village in the West _is my favorite book?" Kalista demanded.

"Ah . . . bit of a long story . . . ."

Epiphany crossed the final line now, swooping in to take third place among the rest of Kalista's race of emotions. "Actually, come to think of it, how do you know so much about me in the first place? Even before we first met, you knew my name and where I went to school and about my mom and everything. How?"

He bit his lip (nearly splitting it in the process) and made a face that was somewhere between a smile and a grimace. "I guess you can say I was keeping tabs on you."

"So you mean you were stalking me."

"No, I was keeping tabs on you."

"You were stalking me!"

"Matter of speaking. Are you done with this little interrogation now?"

Kalista hated the loose tone of those words. She found it unbelievable for anyone to try to just shrug off such wrongdoings. "You again bring me to this point: you don't understand what you could've done."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I love Carol Belle," Kalista declared firmly. "She's my mother, no matter what DNA says. Don't you get it? You hurt me by threatening to hurt her. You terrified me."

"Good. That was the intention."

"Zero." She said his name with barely contained fury, and she bet he could sense that as well as her. "Do you understand what it means to care for someone else? I'm not sure if you're a creature who can."

In the next instant Kalista violently crashed onto the ground, her face burning with the harsh blow Zero had delivered in response to her sentence. He had sprung to his feet, face storming over, his chair knocked over behind him. "Did you just call me a monster?" he shouted. "You're wrong! I have a brother, Kalista. I know what it feels like to have a family. _You don't know anything about me._"

Zero snatched up the paper and pen that still lay on the battered desk. To Kalista, he curtly stated, "I'm out of here. Away from you."

In spite of the stinging blow that was smarting on her skin, Kalista still found the nerve to be cheeky. "How's that? There's only one room in the whole Truze House."

"I said 'out of,' didn't I?" And then he headed straight out the door, paper in hand, Jewel rolling her eyes as she dutifully followed him out.

Kalista let him go – she'd heard enough. She glowered at Zero's exiting back at first, but then noticed for the first time that he was limping badly. Kalista tried and failed to bite back the amused smile that spread on her face while she watched Zero clumsily stumble over to the door. It looked like Sylvester had also been serious when he'd sworn to break his brother's shins.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Zero stalked down the streets of Truze City, cursing the sharp pains that burst out like flames with every step he took. He supposed it was nothing less than what he deserved, but it still annoyed the daylights out of him. They wouldn't be able to recover quickly enough for him.

Zero stopped hobbling and sat down on the sidewalk, leaning against the pole of a streetlamp. He glanced up at the summer stars that twinkled in the velvet sky.

Jewel suddenly swooped down from the air. Out of an ingrained reflex reaction, Zero outstretched his free hand for her (the other hand still clutched his paper and pen). She landed. _Zero, _her low voice piped up in his head. _Let me ask you something._

_Oh, for the love of everything, what do you want?_

_Hey, I'm your friend; that gives me a right to ask you things._

_Ugh. Knowing you, you'll ask anyway, no matter what I say._

_Ah, good. We've just saved a lot of time._

_Just ask already, you nut._

_You're grumpy._

_Aren't I always grumpy by your standards?_

_I mean grumpier than usual._

_Well, of course. You're trying to weasel something out of me._

The bat leveled a hard, stern stare at him that inexplicably made Zero feel like cringing. _Why did you let Carol Belle keep her memory?_

He could've groaned aloud. _Jewel! Why'd you have to go put that image in my head?_

_What are you talking about? _she asked.

_You're in my mind; you should know._

Her question had brought into his head an unwelcome vision of Kalista Belle, on the night of the nineteenth. Too clearly he could see her that night, with her expression torn, her voice panicked, her faded-brown eyes hued with red tint and clingy tears. Zero honestly hadn't the faintest inkling on how he could remember this image so well, but he did. He just couldn't shake off the concern she'd shown for her surrogate mother. As far as Zero knew, he'd never had that kind of bond with his own parents. That fact had never bothered him before, but something was different now.

_Oh, really? _Jewel remarked, reading his thoughts easily. _You know, Zero, I never knew you had such a sentimental side to you. Is that why you spared Carol Belle?_

He frowned intently at first, then quickly changed his mind and relaxed his face. _I think so, actually. I guess I agreed with Kalista on that part: Carol deserved to know why her daughter was leaving her._

That drew a stunned, tense silence from Jewel. When the shock finally wore off enough for her to speak to him again, she acidly questioned, _Do you realize how ironic it is that _you're_ the one saying that?_

_Yeah, I know._

_Then tell me, my dearest Zero: If Carol Belle deserved to know why her daughter was leaving her, how come Eileen Rowning didn't deserve to know the same thing when her sons left her?_

_She _does _know, _Zero replied indignantly. _I left her a note, remember?_

_How long was that note?_

_Long enough._

_Liar. It was two sentences._

_So?_

_I highly doubt you did the situation justice with only two sentences. Did you even mention Ruth or Syl at all? _

_So what if I didn't? It doesn't matter._

Jewel shook her little head in weary annoyance.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

"Mary!" Nicky Williams shouted, pounding ruthlessly on her classmate's door. "Mary, I know you're in there! OPEN THIS DOOR!"

She kept violently beating the door right up until the second Mary Falls finally showed up. Before Mary could utter the greeting that was on her lips, Nicky grabbed her by the shirt collar and yelled in her face.

"I haven't heard from Kalista since June nineteenth and now it's the middle of July! I know you were the last to see her before she disappeared, Mary! Where is she?"

"Whoa, slow down, Nicky," Mary pleaded. "I –"

Nicky's grip suddenly slackened. Her green eyes turned wide as silver dollars. "Are you wearing pink? You _never _wear pink! You _hate _pink."

Mary Falls laughed uneasily. "Why don't you come in, Nicky? My aunt's a vet, and she lives pretty close by. I think she could bring over some horse tranquilizer if I asked her to."

Nicky rolled her eyes, impatiently stepping inside Mary's house. "No thanks. I'm not _that _insane yet."

Mary Falls apparently had very defined concepts of "hospitality." She refused to take part in Nicky's craved-for interrogation until her guest was settled in a comfy seat and had a cold drink in front of her. At long last, Mary asked, "So what was that about Kalista again?"

"She's disappeared," Nicky repeated testily. "I haven't seen her since the second-to-last day of school. All of the calls I've been making to her house go to the answering machine. And I heard from Robbie Arlington that you're the last one to see her."

"Really?" The sandy-haired girl cocked her head, frowning as she thought back. Then she shook her head. "Sorry, Nicky. I honestly can't remember that."

"Are you kidding me?" Nicky whined.

"Calm down, Nicky, calm down. I don't want you going off the deep end. Well, actually, I think you already have, but you get my point."

"I haven't gone off the deep end," Nicky mumbled.

"Ha. Right. That totally explains why you were wearing your winter coat in the middle of summer."

Nicky's head whipped around so she could look at the coat rack in the lobby. To her astonishment, her big winter coat was on one of the racks. She couldn't remember ever putting that on.

"Don't worry so much, Nicky," Mary soothed. "I'm sure Kalista is fine. You know how much she hates the sun. She's probably camping out in her house, waiting for a rainy day."

"That doesn't explain why she's not answering my calls."

"Maybe the phones are broken?"

"Can an answering machine still work even if the phone's not?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

The girls sat in silence for a moment as Nicky worked all this out in her head. It wasn't exactly unusual behavior for Kalista to stay at home like a hermit for extended periods of time. On sunny days, she didn't leave if she could help it.

"Done thinking?" Mary inquired.

"Yeah," Nicky answered, calm restored so abruptly that it surprised even her. She laughed a little. "Sorry. I never think straight, especially when I actually need to." Then she gestured toward Mary. "So seriously, what's with the pink shirt?"

Mary flushed unexpectantly, but she didn't lower her head like she usually did when embarrassed. Her hazel eyes didn't waver. In fact, they seemed to sparkle. "You're going to think I'm nuts when I tell you."

"Hey, you're talking to the kid who has Kalista Belle for her best friend," Nicky pointed out. "The girl who hates the sun, can't taste food, has purple hair, and was conceived out of nowhere. Believe me; I like that girl, but now thanks to her, nuts are my forte."

"Good point." Mary grinned. "My grandma gave this shirt to me a while back. I haven't worn it until now, though. Like you said, I hate pink."

A scenario popped into Nicky's head. "Did she find out you weren't wearing it? Did she get angry and make you?"

"No, no, not like that. I just . . . well, I know this sounds crazy, but ever since mid-June, I've been feeling a whole lot more _free._"

Nicky blinked. "That doesn't sound crazy," she said blankly. "It makes sense. Of course you've been feeling free. You don't have to spend seven and half hours a day cooped up inside a classroom anymore."

"No, that's not what I mean," Mary said. "It's just . . . God, it's so hard to explain. After school let out, I suddenly started thinking about familial bonds. Well, my ancestors have been living here, in this town, in this house, for longer than anyone knows. I used to think that was a bad thing, because I thought I would be obliged to live in this town for my life too."

"Who cares if your family's been here a while?" Nicky exclaimed. "It's more important to be happy with where you live!"

"Exactly," Mary agreed. "That's what I finally realized last month. It's not my roots to this place keeping me here. When I discovered that, it was like a veil had been lifted, so I could finally see clearly. I live here because I want to. If I wanted to leave, I could, but I don't, so I won't. Knowing that has made me feel so much more . . . what's the word? Peaceful. I feel peaceful."

The flush in her cheeks was still there, Nicky noticed. Suddenly she realized that the color wasn't from embarrassment after all: it was from happiness.

Nicky then remembered her original question. "So what does that have to do with the shirt?"

"Like I said, familial bonds."

"So basically you're wearing it to make your grandma happy."

"No, I'm wearing it because of the familial value."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Sometimes, but not this time."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Eventually, while wandering the streets of Hawthorne, Nicky abruptly recalled the reason why she had come out in the first place. Now that Mary Falls was deemed a dead end in her search, Nicky had no more leads to follow. She'd already done everything else she could think of, short of barging right into Kalista's house.

That's when she realized her obvious next action: barge into Kalista's house. At first, that seemed to Nicky like an incredibly rude thing to do, but then she recollected the way she'd pounded on Mary's door. One more little home invasion couldn't do much harm, could it?

That in mind, Nicky turned right on her heel and raced off towards the Belle household. If Kalista wasn't there, her mother Carol would be. It was Saturday. Nicky would make sure to get all the answers she needed.


	10. Close To Their Thoughts

Boy, they sure do a lot of crying in this chapter. I noticed that right after I finished writing it. Hmm . . . I better change that before this story turns into a bad soap opera.

When I was little, I thought soap operas were shows where people would sing opera songs about soap.

Anyway_, _please review! Reviews are always welcome, no matter what.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Ten: Close to their Thoughts**

Don Martin jogged hurriedly down the sidewalk, thinking about how badly his wife was going to chew him out when he reached home. He was late. It was dark out, and little white stars were already appearing in the sky. The streetlights were all lit.

"You . . . you there," a soft voice suddenly called out to him.

Don paused and looked around. Truze was a city, so the streets were never really bare, but none of the people around seemed to be waiting expectantly for an answer from him – nor, in fact, did they seem to have noticed a voice at all. Don concluded that it was just his imagination playing tricks on him and started moving.

But then the voice beckoned again. "Stop! Come here."

Again Don halted, his heard turning. He was certain this time that he'd heard someone's voice, but no one nearby seemed to have noticed anything. Feeling somewhat stupid, Don spoke to thin air. "Me?"

"Yes, you." A different voice spoke this time – it was very high and creaky. "Get over here!"

There was a dark alley nearby formed by the narrow space in between two tall, intimidating buildings. The strange voices had come from there.

Don Martin wasn't a bright man. It didn't cross his mind to blanch at the idea of entering a dark alley at night to greet seemingly disembodied voices. The instant he entered the inky blackness of the shadowy alley, Don lost his sight with no light to guide him. It was like he'd stepped into a black hole, or a new universe entirely. No other humans seemed to be around anymore. He was alone.

Then the creaky voice spoke again. "Good. Stay there, would ya?"

"Huh? Hey wait a minute; why – AAUGH!"

"Be quiet!" the softer voice pleaded. It came from right behind him. Don could feel the owner's arms thrown over his shoulders – that was why he'd screamed.

"What are you doing to me?" Don demanded.

"Stop struggling, please, I'm not trying to hurt you."

"WHY?"

"Shut up, Kalista!" hissed the other voice. "Do it already!"

The thin tips of two sharp objects suddenly touched the skin of Don's neck, causing him to panic, but then the unidentified weapon withdrew so abruptly that the person behind him probably had whiplash.

"N-never mind," he heard the girl – it sounded like a girl – gasp. "I can't do this."

"No!" yelled the squeaky high voice. "Of course you can! Take his blood, Kalista!"

Were they trying to kill him!

"Don't do it, Kalista," Don begged, grasping at straws. "Don't let him control you."

"Shut up. You don't understand what you're talking about," the creaky voice ordered.

"Yes, I do! You're trying to make this girl do something wicked!" Don accused angrily. "You sick monster."

"No!" he shouted.

"Yes," she whispered. "This . . . this _is _wicked, isn't it?"

"Oh, for crying out loud," complained the former. "Kalista, stop it! Quit thinking! Just move! Just do it! Come on!"

"Don't do it, Kalista!" Don implored.

But then the creaky voice abruptly changed tactics. "Please, Kalista . . . ."

The weapon returned to Don's neck. It didn't pull back.

He tried screaming, but his voice was lost. His world vanished without a sound.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Kalista stared down, horrified, at the immobile man lying unconscious at her feet. The sharp, maddeningly sweet taste of blood in her mouth was quickly replaced by bile as a sick sensation rose in her stomach. Dizziness assailed her, and she stumbled, leaning against the hard brick wall of the building behind her.

Jewel swooped down then, settling on the man's face to erase his memory. She didn't glance at Kalista.

Sylvester Rowning emerged from the shadows. He didn't look angry or disappointed. He just looked . . . confused. Questioning.

Somehow, his bewilderment felt even worse than the world's worth of fury.

Kalista shook her head miserably. "Never again," she whispered.

Syl looked blankly at the fallen man beside her. He looked away. Then his eyes met hers. And then he said, "I don't understand."

He was just a child.

"I can't do it!" Kalista lashed out violently. "All my life – Mom – humans are all supposed to be my equals! I can't hunt them like – like – like they're _beneath me _or something! I don't care if they still live, I don't care if they aren't hurt that much, I don't care if they can't even remember being attacked – I'm a monster, and this is _wrong_!"

She buried her face in her ice-cold hands and cried.

Time passed. Of course it did. Time was an unstoppable force – it always passed, no matter what.

It felt like forever had gone by before her sobs finally slowed down a little, and Syl gently pulled her hands away. "You ain't a monster," he said very quietly. "But you ain't human either."

Jewel spoke. _The human's memories have been erased. Let's go home. _She sounded empty.

"Come on," Syl requested. His voice was soft and weak; he almost seemed to be in some form of shock.

But Kalista just shook her head and stayed down. Syl kept his eyes on her and didn't say another word.

The minutes kept ticking by. Warm wind blew. The breeze caressed Kalista's face, soothingly, reminding her that not everywhere in this world was in chaos. Inexplicably, unbelievably, she started to feel herself calming down slowly.

"Carol Belle, huh?" Syl suddenly piped up. "Sounds like the kind of parent who actually knew what she was doing."

Kalista released a pent-up sigh that she hadn't even known she was holding. "Yeah, she's awesome."

"Forget everything you ever heard from her."

"?"

_You need to feed, and you can't go through this drama every time you hunt, _Jewel murmured quietly._ Carol Belle was a good person, definitely, but she thought she was raising a human. Her ideals aren't the ones a vampire should know. I know it sounds awful, but you have to go back on her. You're a vampire. You can't keep humans so close to your thoughts._

The warm wind kept blowing, but this time Kalista felt mocked by it rather than comforted. "Look, fourteen years is a long time," she stated angrily. "Do you really expect me to forget everything I experienced in my life before, like it doesn't even _matter?_"

"Yeah, 'cause it doesn't," Syl said. "You might as well have been dead before."

It felt like he'd punched her. Her blood froze in her veins, chilling her and bringing prickly tears back to her eyes.

Syl did a double-take, looking alarmed. "Are you okay? I take that back!"

"You can _never _take that back," Kalista cried shrilly, her vision being blurred by a veil of tears. She swiped at them with her hands, but the tears kept marching on. Syl's apologies continued flooding forward like a waterfall.

"Admit it – you know I'm a screw-up," Kalista choked into the cold hands that'd returned to her face. "I got it. Fine! I don't care. You're right; I might as well be dead."

"No, that ain't what I meant!" Syl exclaimed in dismay. "I mean – you know – I . . . ." He hesitated for a few seconds, deliberating anxiously. When he finally spoke again, his voice was almost as uncontrollably passionate as Kalista's. "Zero leaves me alone in that old abandoned building all the time. I don't mind, really, because I know he'll always come back. But it's still lonely! Really, _really_ lonely."

He looked pleadingly down at Kalista, his brown eyes shining with some unidentifiable feeling. "That's why I was so happy when Zero told me he was bringing you here to Truze City. I thought I was going to have a new friend. Please stay alive, Kalista. If not for me, then for someone else. There must be someone that you want to be alive for."

"Someone that I want to be alive for?" Kalista echoed hollowly. "Someone for whom I'd be willing to hurt fellow humans over and over again, just to preserve my own pathetic life?"

But then an angry thought burst unannounced into her brain, shouting furiously at her. _Mom! _it yelled.

Yes, Kalista realized. Mom. She'd stay alive for her mother. She'd do anything for her . . .

_I promised her I'd see her again someday._

_Am I really willing to break that promise?_

_No . . . ._

"That human over there was right, huh?" Syl intoned brokenly. His voice was completely flat, devoid of all emotion. "I _am _a sick monster."

"No way," Kalista immediately exclaimed. "Never!"

He cocked his head to one side, seeming dizzied by her abrupt change of mood. "Oh, good, you're calm again." Out of the blue a smile returned to his face, albeit a much weaker one than usual. "You know what, Kalista? You're actually coping better than Zero did when he first awakened."

"What, really?"

"Yeah. I was only, like, six during his awakening, so I don't really remember anything that happened. But his blood preference is _grief_. I figure that should tell us something."

A sudden realization struck Kalista. "Come to think of it, where _is_ your brother? I haven't seen him since he stormed out on me last month after my interrogation."

Syl appraisingly eyed Jewel, who was fluttering overhead. "_You_ know where he is, don't you, Jewel-girl? The day after he left you came back without him."

Jewel very dryly replied, _Zero has asked me not to disclose his whereabouts to either of you._

Syl shrugged. "Okay."

Kalista blinked. "You're okay with that? Aren't you afraid he won't come back?"

"Are you kidding me? He's a seventeen-year-old vampire. He's perfectly safe."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what - ?" Syl halted in mid-sentence, apparently realizing the answer himself. "Oh. No, I'm not worried about that. I just told you, didn't I? Zero may take off all the time, but he also always comes back. He could never leave me forever."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

The last person Carol Belle wanted to see on her front doorstep was Nicky Williams, and the last thing she wanted that feisty young girl to be doing was looking for Carol's daughter. Carol knew full well that Kalista's best friend never did take no for an answer. Alarm bells had sounded in her head the instant Nicky had showed up and asked if Kalista was home.

In her mind, she'd known since the instant Kalista left that one day this moment would come. One day she would have to stop camping out in her house. People would start wondering where her daughter was, and she'd need a legitimate excuse ready. After all, she could hardly tell them the truth. Well, actually, technically she could, if she didn't mind being locked up in a madhouse wearing a straitjacket while Luis Mendez repeatedly exclaimed _I told you so _from now until the end of time.

She hadn't yet thought up her legitimate excuse, and futilely attempted to buy herself time to think by very slowly pouring Nicky a glass of orange juice that the girl repeatedly stated she didn't want. Nicky, however, quickly tired of the charade.

"So come on, Carol," she said, irritation in her voice. "What's with all the edginess? Something's up, isn't there?"

No fool here.

"I just want to know where Kalista is," Nicky said gently when Carol remained silent. "Please tell me, Carol. You can trust me."

Kalista had sworn her mother to secrecy. Carol couldn't say anything. But, at the same time, she had to say _something. _Unfair seconds raced by like lightning.

"Come on!" Nicky snapped. It was apparent now that her patience had already worn quite thin even before she'd shown up at Carol's house. "If something's wrong, I want a part of it. You can tell me anything – it doesn't matter how hard or painful it is. I care about Kalista too!"

Carol felt something welling up inside her. She gazed with suddenly blurring eyes at Nicky, moved by this display of devotion to her daughter. To her embarrassment, Carol realized that tears were trickling from her eyes.

Nicky noticed. She sat down on the couch next to Carol and put her arm over Carol's shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Nicky murmured.

"Kalista's gone," Carol whispered.

Nicky tried not to make her reaction obvious, but Carol could feel the kid's lanky arm slacken over her shoulders. "What do you mean by that?"

"She ran away." Surely, this was the best way to lie: insert as much of the truth into it as possible. Kalista _had _technically run away, hadn't she? "Just upped and went. I never could do a thing."

"Oh my god. Carol, you have to do something! Call the police! Put up missing person posters! Ask everyone you know if they've seen Kalista! Start –"

"No," Carol said tiredly. "I can't. I shouldn't."

"Yes, you should!" Nicky argued heatedly. "Trust me on this one, Carol. I know what to do; my uncle's a policeman."

"So is my brother-in-law. But that wasn't what I meant, Nicky. Kalista had a reason for running away."

Nicky's eyebrows shot up. "Yeah? And what's that?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't know why Kalista ran away. But I think there must be a reason out there somewhere – I just don't know it. And that's fine, because I don't need to know everything."

At this point, Carol dared to risk a glance at Nicky. She was startled to see tears quietly tracking down the young girl's face, which she made no move to wipe away.

"You can't be serious," Nicky said, but her voice was feeble. "You can't just let Kalista get away. She needs to come home."

"Yes, Kalista does need to go home," Carol stated resignedly. "But her home isn't here with me. That's why I'm not fighting to bring her back. As her mother, I know when I have to let my child go."

Nicky's green eyes were wide open, and her trembling fists were balled up so tightly that her skin turned white. The she leapt to her feet and yelled, "I just don't get what's up with you grown-ups! Don't be such a tragic hero and fight for what you really want!"

"What I really want is for Kalista to be happy," Carol said wearily. "Leaving me is fine if she achieves that."

"No, it's not!" Nicky fiercely exclaimed, and then she made a beeline towards the front door, stomping angrily the whole way.

Just as she moved to yank open the door, Carol spoke again.

"Wherever she is," she murmured, "I'm sure Kalista has you close to her thoughts, Nicky."

Yet again Nicky became immobile for a few moments. She turned around slowly. Carol just sat there, holding her gaze.

"Y-yeah," Nicky finally said, sounding defeated. "I'll bet we're both real close to her thoughts right now. She'll be close to mine; that's for sure." She hardened her stare. "Just so you know, Carol, I'm going to keep looking for Kalista no matter what you say."

Carol nodded somberly. "Of course."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Eileen Rowning stared out though her window and into the starry night sky, nervously twirling a lock of her silver hair around her index finger. She gazed anxiously at the sky, her unease peaking when she spotted the familiar form of her bat flying towards her. Auster had finally arrived.

She threw her window open and Auster perched onto her windowsill. The weary bat gazed up at her with careful, glittering black eyes. As expected, a small folded letter was tied to his back. Eileen gazed at it, afraid.

"Well?" she said, her voice high with trepidation.

Auster shook his head sadly. _Sorry, Madam. Same thing as always, _he murmured.

"Oh," Eileen managed to say. "I see. Well then." As she untied the letter from Auster's body, she reflected that this really shouldn't be anything new. Zero had been rejecting her written pleads of peace for many years now. Sometimes she wondered why she still bothered to keep sending letters.

That, she supposed, was one of the drawbacks of being a mother. It really could be hard to get one's child out of their thoughts.

Fingers trembling, she unfolded the little scrap of paper and began to read. Zero's curt message this time was more or less the same as all the others.

_Forget it, Eileen. You're just wasting ink. We will never forgive you for what you did to Ruth– period. Syl and I are never coming back._


	11. Abandoned

I recently read that customers at restaurants are slightly more likely to leave better tips if the waiter/waitress draws a smiley face on the check. Does that mean you're more likely to leave a review if I put a smiley face here? :)

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Eleven: Abandoned**

One evening in early October, Kalista woke up and pushed aside her coffin's lid to be greeted with a gust of crisp air and the sight of Sylvester sitting on top of their wooden table. His feet dangled motionlessly over the edge of the table, and he was staring fixedly at the door. The boy's brown eyes were glazed so far over that they looked almost like ice.

Unsettled, Kalista drew closer to the seemingly frozen boy and nudged his side gently. A faintly surprised grunt escaped Syl's lips. He blinked hard and rubbed his eyes, as if he'd just been woken from a deep sleep.

"Hey," Kalista said. "What were you thinking so hard about?"

"Eh?" Syl kept rubbing his eyes. His voice sounded rather hoarse. "Nothing; I wasn't thinking 'bout nothing." But when his hands left his eyes, he shot a quick glance back at the vampires' trio of coffins. Kalista understood then.

"Zero's not back yet, huh?" she said, and even to herself her voice sounded surreal.

Syl's gaze returned to the front door. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Jewel too. She's suddenly disappeared as well. Zero probably asked her to stay with him. I don't think she's coming back again until he does."

Silence hung as the two young vampires intently eyed the front door. The air felt very still while they . . . waited? Was that what they were doing? Kalista wondered vaguely. And if they were, then what were they waiting for? It wasn't like Zero and Jewel were going to magically show up just because both of them were staring at the door. Yet, that was exactly the feeling that the atmosphere exuded – the motionless, empty sensation of mindless waiting.

"I don't MIND!" Syl suddenly shouted, his loud voice such a dramatic change from the previous silence that Kalista literally jumped. "Zero ups and leaves like this all the time! It's nothing new, and he always comes back! So what if this time he's been gone for way longer than usual? He'll still come back for me like he always does; I'm his _brother!_"

Kalista felt disoriented by his outburst. "Syl, I . . . didn't say anything."

His face slackened, turning blank. "Oh . . . right." He awkwardly shifted his gaze back to the front door, but not before Kalista noticed a flash of pain in his eyes.

She spoke cautiously. "So you say Zero disappears like this often. Where does he usually go?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"He never tells me, so I stopped asking." The tone of his voice was peculiarly simple.

Kalista looked closely at Syl's face, trying to read into his expression and see what he was thinking. It was a difficult task. His profile was ambiguous, empty.

"Well," she said slowly, stepping away from Syl. "I'm going to go for a walk." She headed for the door.

"Kalista?" Syl's tentative voice made her halt and look back over her shoulder at him. He hesitated for a moment before mumbling, "Come back later, okay?"

Once again, it occurred to Kalista that Syl was very young.

She nodded dutifully. "Of course, Syl."

She opened the door and stepped outside into the tremendous world. Colors swam inside Kalista's head, forming the image of Syl's heartbreaking face. He wasn't angry or annoyed; only confused. Yet, that childish mystification felt more powerful than any kind of fury the world could conjure.

Spurred by the vision, Kalista sharply turned down the road and started marching purposefully. It didn't matter that she had no clues, no leads, no indication whatsoever of where on earth Syl's brother might be. Rationality had already flown out the window a long time ago. As she strode determinedly down the city streets, she was just a girl with one mission in mind: to find Zero Rowning.

And then strangle him.

**KZSKZSKZSKZS**

The evening sky was darkening. Jane York's tears streamed in rivers from her eyes as she tore down the road. Echoes of her mother's furious voice arguing with Jane's father resounded in the child's head as she ran blindly down the street. She just had to get away from the raging conflict that she knew was all her fault.

Jane abruptly crashed into someone and was knocked down onto the sidewalk. Stunned but otherwise unhurt, her eyelids snapped open. Standing before her was the strangest fourteen-year-old girl Jane had ever seen. She had pale skin, reddish eyes, and lavender hair. And she looked absolutely horrified, with her gaping mouth forming a staggered O.

The appalled expression hit too close to home – it made Jane think of the way her mother looked at her. "What?" Jane demanded shrilly.

The odd-looking girl flinched and painstakingly worked her expression into something more normal. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

Though the stranger's question apparently meant well, it stirred Jane's temper and made her snap. "No," she exclaimed stridently. "I will never be okay again!"

"Hey now, you can't have hit me that hard."

"You don't get it!" The tears that'd already welled up inside Jane's burning eyes chose this time to return and fall. "I'm running away. I will never be okay again!" she repeated for emphasis.

A peculiarly closed expression flickered briefly on the older girl's face. She sat down beside Jane on the sidewalk. "What's your name?" Her voice was inflectionless; she seemed apathetic to the fact that Jane's world was falling apart.

Jane sniffed. "Jane."

"And how old are you?"

"Five."

"And your parents?"

"They don't want me," Jane immediately stated, swiping at the runny tears that tracked down her cheeks. "They've never wanted me since the divoh."

"The divoh? Do you mean, 'divorce?'"

"Yeah, that."

The red-eyed girl was quiet for a few moments, as if reflecting on Jane's words. Then cautiously she said, "Jane, I don't think it's a good idea for you to run away. I'm sure your parents still love you."

"No, they don't! They hate me, because I'm the reason why for the divoh."

"What makes you think that?" the stranger asked in a suddenly tight voice.

Memories assailed Jane. Her parents had always argued behind closed doors, thinking their young daughter would never notice all the noise or the smashed dishes strewn on the kitchen floor. They were wrong, of course – she'd heard everything. For the millionth time the warring voices of Jane's parents played in her head like the sounds on a tape recorder. She heard her mother's heated complaints against her father, her constant demands for more from her lousy marriage and husband. She heard her father, weary and resigned; sighing as he tried and failed to listen to the woman he no longer harbored any interest in. They'd gotten to the point where they simply couldn't stand each other anymore.

They'd started bringing Jane's name up soon after the decision to divorce. They'd argued fiercely over what was going to happen to their daughter once they split up. Her mother never wanted to see Jane again. She had ranted to Jane's father about the utter lack of love in their family, about how he could do nothing but moon over an old girlfriend who'd dumped him years ago. They'd argued about Jane continuously . . . But . . . had they ever accused her of anything?

When Jane failed to summon a legitimate answer within ten minutes, the red-eyed girl commented, "It's not your fault, is it?"

"Mama's leaving," Jane told her, irrationally trying to maintain her long-held belief. "She's packing, and she's going to move to another house. She hates me." Simple anger stabbed at her insides. "I wish it was me moving!" Jane exploded. "It's me who doesn't belong in Daddy's house. I should just go away! You should just let me go away!"

But the red-eyed girl just shook her head. "I can't let you go away; not when I know there's a daddy whose heart will be broken. The divorce isn't your fault, Jane. Go home, where they love and want you."

"They don't want me," Jane declared hotly. "I shouldn't go home."

The stranger winced. In the silent stalemate that followed, Jane felt something in the air suddenly turn tense. It was like a bunch of electricity had decided to start dancing in the space around the red-eyed stranger sitting beside her. With watery eyes Jane looked at the older girl, and was startled by her expression. What was that strange emotion on her face? Fear? Excitement? Anticipation? Or was it a mixture of the three?

"I'll show you," the stranger said, her eyes very bright. "I'll prove to you, Jane, that you belong back home with your family."

She leaned over quickly, pressing her chin onto Jane's shoulder and opening her mouth so that Jane could feel the stranger's blistering breath on her neck. One fluid motion, a few seconds of breathing – and then nothing. The stranger paused, swaying back a fraction of a centimeter, abruptly uncertain.

This puzzled Jane all the more. "Hey," she demanded. "What are you doing?"

The stranger tensed like a lion preparing to spring, but unsure of whether springing was the right thing to do. Jane began to kick back, trying to break away from the red-eyed girl's grip. The stranger exhaled tensely. She tightening her hold on Jane; her few moments of hesitation were already over.

"What are you doing?" Jane cried again, this time with a note of real terror in her voice.

She could feel the stranger grimace quickly against her shoulder. "Nothing you'll remember, I promise."

Acute stabs of pain burst to life on Jane's neck. First came shock, then dizziness, then all-consuming blackness as the universe slipped away.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Don Martin yawned hugely as he entered his apartment, stretching his arms out as far as they would go. Work had been tiring today. He noticed a small yellow post-it note stuck onto a nearby table. A short message, written in his wife's meticulously neat handwriting, stated that she would be out very late today.

Rubbing at his tired eyes, Don trudged over to his large living room window. It was long, quiet days alone like this when he most appreciated the view that this window gave him. His apartment was on one of the highest floors of the building. He took simple but great pleasure in watching the tiny moving pinpricks of the people below race by on the streets, or the billowing smoke of busy factories curling up and writhing in the air, or the head of another curious person leaning out of their own window to watch the world drift by.

Don gazed out his window and noticed that the streets were unusually bare. Faint uneasiness stirred inside him as he ran his eyes over the empty grey roads. Then he spotted two miniscule dots down on the ground – people. The dots were at the edge of the sidewalk, and they weren't moving. Watching their complete immobility made the earth's movement feel slower to Don, somehow.

All of a sudden, one dot stepped away from the other. The latter's shape flattened as its body lay down on the beige sidewalk. The first dot stood still for many long moments before steadily walking away from the second.

Don stared down at the second dot for the space of many long moments. It didn't move.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Alarm bells kicked into action, clamoring insanely in his head. Don shot out through his door like a speeding rocket, tripping over his own feet several times in his haste to reach that little person lying on the sidewalk. The elevator seemed half-asleep as it drifted unhurriedly down the floors, greatly irritating Don. He zoomed out of the stuffy moving box before the doors were even fully open, racing outside onto streets.

He found the figure on the sidewalk – a tiny girl with blonde hair and a thin line of red blood trickling from her neck. Don felt shocked when he recognized the child – Jane York, the daughter of his close friend Axel York. Don's insides filled with molten lead as he stared at the unmoving girl; His shock soon boiled into anger. He treasured Axel's sweet little daughter almost as much as her father himself did. Whoever did this to Jane, they couldn't be allowed to get away with it. Seething with fury, Don whipped out his cell phone and called the police.


	12. Remember

Recently I took a survey about my study habits (required by my school so they can "help" us better). I'm not going to bore you with all the details, but my results basically said that I was okay in every area except one. Apparently I have no motivation. So they gave me some suggestions to "help increase motivation." There were four suggestions, but they really all said the same thing. They told me to ask my teachers, "When am I ever going to need this?"

Riiiight. I've never asked that before . . .

Please don't forget to leave a review.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Twelve: Remember**

Kalista didn't make it far down the road before worries exploded within her.

What was _wrong _with her! All that time she'd done virtually nothing but rant and rave about how much resentment she felt towards drinking human blood. Zero had been annoyed, Jewel had been annoyed – even she herself had gotten somewhat annoyed with the repeated tirades after a while. And now, suddenly, she found herself feeding off a little five-year-old girl! Where in the world had that total one-eighty come from?

Kalista spun around and sped back down the sidewalk. At the time, when Jane had been sitting right next to her and confessing her feelings of despair, Kalista had been thinking about what Zero had told her months ago. When vampires drank blood, he or she also drank an emotion out of the human akin to their blood preference. She hadn't really understood what that meant, but she knew that her own blood preference was the feeling of being lost. She'd thought that by drinking Jane's blood, she also be draining away the girl's negative emotions. She'd thought that would make Jane believe in where she belonged.

Now Kalista realized she was a fool who'd done nothing but assume. What if Jane had been hurt? What if Kalista hadn't erased her memory correctly and ended up messing up the girl's head? (She'd never wiped a memory on her own before, after all.) Could Jane find her way back home? What would people think if they saw a little girl passed out and bleeding on the sidewalk? Kalista called herself eleven different names, all of them vile.

She almost reached the place where she'd attacked Jane when she stopped and skidded backwards. Little Jane was walking down the sidewalk with her back towards Kalista, but next to her was a stocky man with brown hair and a white shirt. Briefly he turned his head to the side to look at Jane, and Kalista recognized who he was. She'd bitten him last July.

He looked okay. What would he do if Kalista showed herself . . . the she remembered that Jewel had erased his memory, so he shouldn't remember his encounter with her. Still, Kalista felt intimidated by the prospect of seeing one of her past victims again. And besides that, she wasn't sure if she'd wiped Jane's mind correctly. What if Jane recognized her?

Heart thumping, Kalista quietly backed away several meters. She quietly began following Jane and the man from the farthest distance she could manage without losing sight of them.

Occasionally her strong eyes would detect a movement from Jane or the man as one of them prepared to glance over their shoulders. Luckily the street was riddled with buildings, and Kalista always managed to hide in the dark alleyways between them without being caught. It occurred to her that the pursued victims in movies tended to look over their shoulders pretty often too, and she instantly felt like a stalker. _Just until I'm sure Jane's okay, _she told herself. _There's nothing deranged about this. Right?_

Jane and the man went down several blocks until they reached a tall apartment building. They turned to enter through the door. Kalista became concerned. How was she going to follow them into an enclosed building? But she was spared the trouble of having to solve that dilemma by a blond man who charged out of the building, nearly colliding with Jane and the brown-haired man in his haste.

The blond man's eyes shot wide open. "Jane!"

Kalista backed into an alleyway, poking a portion of her head around the edge of a wall.

"Where did you go?" The blond man dropped to his knees and embraced Jane in a death grip. "I thought you were gone!"

Jane seemed astonished by the emotion in his voice. She started choking up too. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I was running away. I'm sorry. Don't be mad."

"Running away?" he echoed. "That's what you were doing?"

The brown-haired man suddenly spoke up. "Uh, Axel, by the way –"

"Not now," Jane's father snapped. "Go away."

His friend flushed, but he nodded in understanding and shuffled down the street, leaving for home. Kalista briefly backed deeper into the alley to avoid being seen by him.

"I thought you don't love me anymore," Jane murmured to her father.

"Please don't tell me you think that."

"I don't!" Jane wailed, pressing herself closer to him. "Not anymore! I shouldn't've run away. I know you love me now after all; you're just really bad at showing it! I love you too."

"Good," Axel breathed bleakly. "You better remember that. And promise me this, Jane Arabelle York. Don't run away again – I can't lose you."

"Yeah!" Jane hugged her father again. "I promise. Cross my heart! I'm not running away again; I'm _supposed _to be here!

With that, Kalista smiled and turned around, heading back towards the Truze House. Jane was fine. She was now secure in knowing where her home, and where her heart, lay.

_So it turns out I actually _can _do good, _she thought happily. Maybe she wasn't such a terrible monster after all. And if she could help Jane, then who else could she help? The idea of being a vampire suddenly didn't seem so bad, and for the first time in ages Kalista could imagine a light down the road in her future.

_You better remember that. And promise me this, Jane Arabelle York._

Kalista frowned. What were that man's words doing, echoing in her head?

_Remember._

Why was that word so familiar?

_Will you remember me?_

_If I forget everything else in the whole world, I won't forget you._

Kalista stopped dead in her tracks. What was preventing her from going back to Hawthorne and seeing her mother again right now?

Excitedly she turned down an intersection and raced for a bus stop. Plans began spinning themselves in Kalista's suddenly-hyperactive mind as she envisioned taking the bus back to the town of Hawthorne and racing back to Carol's house. She imagined her mother's overjoyed face; imagined them embracing and Carol listening to everything Kalista had been through the past four months. There was nothing, no vampire around to prevent Kalista from running back to -

And then a fresh wave of guilt washed over Kalista. There _was _something that could keep her here: Sylvester Rowning. Again she halted in the middle of the sidewalk, recalling the pained expression he'd worn earlier when he'd spoken of his brother not yet returning. He was so young in his heart. Too young to be left all alone in the Truze House. _Come back later, okay? _he'd asked.

Zero was nowhere. Jewel hadn't returned last night. Kalista was the only one who still stayed. She couldn't leave Syl too; he needed her.

Kalista turned back around, walking down the road towards the Truze House. She wouldn't leave him. Not now.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Axel York's mouth hung ajar as he wondered what a stony-faced police officer was doing at his door.

"Are you Axel York?" the green-eyed cop asked.

Axel moved his head up and down just enough to make a passable nod.

The cop held up a badge. "My name is Detective Williams. I'd like to ask you and your daughter a few questions concerning her attack earlier today."

"Attack?" Axel felt like his breath was being stolen. He turned his head towards the inside of his apartment and shouted Jane's name.

She entered the foyer, looking puzzled and slightly frightened. Her blue eyes widened at the sight of the stranger at the door.

"Why didn't you tell me you were attacked earlier today?" Axel questioned.

"What? I wasn't attacked," she replied immediately. "I'm fine, see!"

"Really?" Detective Williams questioned. "Because your friend, Don Martin, called the police station and said he saw you passed out and bleeding on the sidewalk."

"But I'm okay!" Jane yelled.

"I see. So you mean to call Don Martin a liar?"

"No! He's no liar!"

"He said he saw you hurt. You say you weren't hurt. Somebody here has to be a liar."

"No way!"

Axel's head was spinning. "Jane," he said slowly, "when you came to that realization . . . the one that made you come back home . . . how did you come to it? What made you realize it?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I don't know. I went to sleep, and when I woke up I knew it."

"Went to sleep?" Detective Williams repeated. "Where?"

"On the sidewalk."

"Why did you sleep on the sidewalk?"

"I don't know."

The officer drew himself up. "Look, if you two are defending someone– "

"No!" Jane cried. "I say truth! Nobody hurt me!"

"Jane, if you were attacked, then–" Axel began.

"I say truth!" Jane shouted again.

It was quiet for a while after that. The cop rubbed his chin with one hand, his brow furrowed.

"Fine," he finally said. "I can see that this is going nowhere. Thank you for your time." He handed them a card. "If you two remember anything else, call me, okay? Doesn't matter what the time is."

They said that they would, and he left, leaving a world of unsettlement and confusion in his wake.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

On October twenty-ninth, during dinner that evening at the Williams household, the phone rang. Nicky picked it up for a few moments, then handed it to her father. "Dad, it's Uncle Nelson. He wants to talk to you."

Scott Williams took the phone. "Hey, Nelson. How's it going over there in Truze City?" he asked cheerfully.

"Bad," his older brother replied bluntly.

"Got a case you can't solve?"

"Before you ask, I'm not telling a civilian about it."

"You know, Nelson, I'm just going to pester you until you talk. You might as well save yourself some time and annoyance. That is, if you're smart."

His brother remained silent. Scott could easily imagine his angry expression, and grinned at the thought.

He laughed. "Tell me about the case, Nelson."

"Girl's name is Jane York, five years old." Nelson's voice turned methodical as he reported the facts, almost like a machine. "A little over three weeks ago, one Don Martin claimed he saw her unconscious and bleeding from the neck on the sidewalk. We're investigating under the assumption that she was attacked, but Jane York herself claims to have only fallen asleep."

"Asleep on the sidewalk?"

"Yes. Furthermore, I have questioned every person connected to her that I could find, and none of them are even aware of the attack."

"Maybe she just tripped or something."

"No, the neck wound didn't look like it was accidental."

"Hmm." Scott leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin in thought. "You know, this situation sounds pretty familiar . . . ."

"What?"

"Well, a few years ago, when Nicky was finishing up sixth grade, one of her classmates went missing on the field trip. I think his name was . . . Bryan? Bryan Katsky, yes. Nicky's friend Kalista found him later with a cut on his face. He was asked about it, but he'd forgotten _everything, _even his own name."

Nicky looked up from her food. Scott didn't notice this.

"Maybe something similar happened to this girl?" Scott suggested.

"That _does _sound a little bit like this," Nelson said thoughtfully, "except that Jane York still remembers her name, along with just about every other aspect of her life."

Scott said something in response to that, but Nicky never heard what he said because she excused herself from the table. Silently she walked down the hall to the living room and switched on the computer that sat on one desk. She went onto a search engine and typed into the search box.

_How to get to Truze City_


	13. Revelation

I sure seem to be abusing the "dark alley" thing, don't I? It's such a useful plot device, and I don't even know if it actually would work in real life.

In unrelated news, for school I was recently assigned an extensive project about the country of Belgium. I better get working, since I don't know anything about Belgium other than Belgian waffles. And I don't know if those are even Belgian.

After all, German chocolate cake isn't from Germany (it was named after some guy named Sam German). And Spanish moss isn't Spanish (nor is it a moss). And Russian salad dressing was invented in the United States (along with French dressing and Italian dressing). And I'm pretty sure French fries weren't invented by the French either. I wonder where Belgian waffles come from.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Thirteen: Revelation**

There was a little letter taped to the inside of the Truze House door, which Kalista and Syl discovered in the evening when they awoke. It seemed to have been left there in the daytime when they were both asleep. Syl's eyes lit up when he unfolded the letter. It seemed he'd recognized the handwriting at once. "This is from Zero!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Read it!" Kalista immediately replied.

The note read:

_K – You better still be alive. Z._

Syl looked at Kalista. Kalista looked back at Syl. They stared at the scant note that Zero had left, the first indication he'd given them for weeks that he still existed on the face of the Earth. All he left was one vaguely threatening sentence.

Kalista looked at Syl again. His face was frozen, like a statue whose sculptor had neglected to give it an expression. But his hands betrayed this stillness; they were gripping the letter so tightly that the paper was crinkling and his nails turned white.

"So . . ." Kalista said slowly. "That Zero . . . he really cares, doesn't he?"

"That's not funny."

"I know."

"Where are you going?" Syl asked, seeing Kalista head for the door.

"Hunting," she replied dully. "Apparently I had better stay alive, you know?"

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Nicky's heart fluttered nervously as she hopped off the bus. She wasn't like this normally, but then again, she'd never snuck out of her own home before.

The last time she'd visited Truze City, she'd been a sixth grader on a field trip. The place hadn't changed much since then. There was still a whole bunch of tall buildings crowded around the streets. Bustling people still rushed around with a distracted speed only seen in cities. And that old dilapidated building where Kalista and an amnesiac Bryan Katsky had been found years ago was still around, as a glance into the distance told Nicky.

_I think his name was . . . Bryan? Bryan Katsky, yes. Nicky's friend Kalista found him later with a cut on his face. He was asked about it, but he'd forgotten _everything,_ even his own name. Maybe something similar happened to this girl?_

"Sorry, Dad," Nicky whispered to the dark sky. "I know it's a long shot, but if there's any chance Kalista's here, then I want to find her."

Nicky fished a map she'd brought out of her pocket. She unfolded it and began to study it by the light of a streetlamp. Seeing as how she was a fourteen-year-old girl in a foreign city at nighttime, she decided that she should first locate the only familiar person within the entire area: her Uncle Nelson. She didn't really know what she would do from there. She was thinking only one step at a time.

She found herself standing before two massive buildings, both enrobed in paint that was a rather suffocating shade of grey. According to her map, the quickest way to her uncle's apartment would be to cut through the alleyway between these two giant buildings. She took a few steps in.

Almost instantly Nicky found herself shrouded in darkness. The buildings around her were so huge that they blocked the stars and moonlight and streetlamps. Nicky folded up her map and tucked it away in her coat pocket in order to free her hands, which she raised in front of her in attempt to feel her way around. As she took unsteady steps forward, she was reminded of the times when she was a young child, waking up in the middle of the night, stumbling through the darkness while trying to find the bathroom.

Voices sounded from down the pitch-black alley, and Nicky instantly froze.

"Belle, are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

Belle? For one second, Nicky felt an insane rush of hope. Then it evaporated as she remembered that Belle was a common surname. There were thousands of people who weren't Kalista that had the name Belle.

"Stop walking, sir. We're here."

"Here?"

"Yeah."

"Why did you take me here, Belle?"

"That's not important right now."

Nicky heard a footstep, accompanied by a sort of sweeping sound. Either Belle or the man must be turning around. The former seemed more likely, because Belle then spoke. "Sir . . . if you were an artist right now, do you think you would be happy?"

"What? Well . . . yeah, I guess so."

"You guess? I thought you said being an artist was your dream."

"It was. It is. But . . ."

"But what?"

"Art isn't a stable job," he mumbled. "I didn't want to be just another starving painter on the street . . ."

Both were quiet for a while. Nicky didn't dare speak, nor did she have the nerve to even move, in case they heard her footsteps. They didn't sound dangerous, but they were strangers, and she knew nothing about them.

"The world is a big place," Belle suddenly murmured. "You may have talent, you may have passion, but then again, so do plenty of other wannabes. It's hard to be on top; there are so many people out there competing for the same thing. If you were an artist, do you think you could take all the heartbreak involved?"

"I . . . I don't know. Maybe. I would try, at least. I'd try really hard to take it."

"Mmm. Good answer." Nicky could practically hear the smile in Belle's voice.

"Is it really much use to ask about it now, though?" Mr. Hamilton wondered. "I mean, I'm a construction worker now. This is the place where I have to be. That old dream is dead."

"Says who?"

"Says everything."

"Then you should listen to nothing," Belle murmured. "If you have a dream, go after it. It doesn't matter who you are, how old you are, or what others say. If you want it; really want it, then go after it with all your heart. Find the place where you need to be. That's the whole point of life, isn't it? At least, that's what I'd like to think."

Her voice sounded so much like Kalista's. Nicky stared out into the darkness. Could it be . . .? No. Sure, this Belle person _sounded _a whole lot like Kalista, but her speech patterns were . . . different, somehow. Stronger.

"You're a kid," the man told Belle flatly. "You kids always believe in whatever suits you. But trust me, Belle – sometimes it really is too late."

"No, it's not. You have two things: what your life is right now and a vision of what you want your life to be. There has to be a way to make those two opposites exist together. There has to be a way to make it all work out. I'll make you believe that, if only for a little while."

Nicky heard footsteps, and then the brush of fabric grazing other fabric . . . and then she started when a yell escaped the man's lips.

There came an odd noise that Nicky couldn't identify. It was over in seconds, though, and was followed by a dull thud as a body fell onto the ground.

At this exact moment, a miracle occurred. A cloud shifted somewhere, and the moon found a new position in the sky. It hung directly above the alleyway, shining a few pale but triumphant rays down. Some of the darkness lifted, and Nicky felt goose bumps erupt on her skin.

A man lay on the ground, eyes closed, neck bleeding. Strangely, his expression was peaceful. A girl with lavender hair crouched over him, her hand placed over his face. Her mouth was slightly open, prodded ajar by two long dagger-sharp teeth. Blood dripped from the girl's fangs, trickling down her lip and chin.

The girl's red eyes weren't the eyes of something savage or cruel. They looked at the unconscious man with kindness. Nicky recognized that expression. She recognized the girl wearing it.

Her body wasn't her own in those moments. She had no control over the feet that were whirling around, no control over the legs that were suddenly sprinting away from the alley as fast as they could go. She didn't stop running away from the best friend she'd worked so hard to find.

The best friend that she now knew was a vampire.


	14. Weakening Resolves

I really like to listen to music while writing. My computer can play songs and let me type on Microsoft Word at the same time, which is sweet. I like to play music to help me get in the mood of the story – like, if I'm writing some sad emotional scene, then I'll pull up a sad emotional song. It helps, I think.

But sometimes I ignore the current mood of the story and just play whatever song I happen to like at that time. Thus, while I write about poor innocent little girls being attacked by vampires, some other young girl is cheerfully singing in my ears about how wonderful her new boyfriend is.

Anyway, please read and review as if your life depended on it.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Fourteen: Weakening Resolves**

The rain came swiftly and suddenly in the middle of the afternoon. Zero stood leaning against the hard stone wall of a tiny bakery. Rainwater pooled on the sidewalk around his feet, seeping into his shoes. With listless eyes he watched humans on the street scurry every which way, frantically trying to avoid the downpour. None of them noticed Jewel perched on his shoulder, nestled into the crook of his neck. They were too caught up with their own problems.

Humans had such short lives compared to vampires, Zero thought idly. Perhaps that was why they always seemed to be in a hurry – there was so much they wanted to do, in so little time. Although he didn't dare risk it, he did wonder if any of them would notice Jewel even if he placed her right on one of their shoulders.

The rain plummeted down in buckets, soaking Zero and Jewel to the bone. Neither of them minded. Zero sang an old tune softly to himself, passing the endless stretch of time he had on his hands.

"_You and I look so much the same_

_Yet to each other we seem so strange_

_Why are you running away from the rain?_

_The sun is the cruel one who can take our lives_

_The rain is the one who only closes our eyes_

_And I can't walk with you under the sun_

_But under the rain we can walk as one."_

As he sang, he thought about the past. The first letter from Eileen had arrived a few months after Zero and Syl first ran away, almost six years ago. It had been brought by her bat, Auster, a letter that had implored Zero to return home to his supposedly heartbroken parents. Zero had instead freaked out; not realizing that just because Auster knew his whereabouts, it didn't mean Eileen and Louis did as well. He'd packed right up and searched for another place to stay.

It didn't seem to matter where he and Syl went, though. Auster always found them again eventually, though how he accomplished that feat was a total mystery to Zero. Zero tried to be hospitable to him. He didn't have any problem with Auster specifically, only with the bat's loyalty to Eileen.

When he finally realized that Eileen's bat wasn't going to leave them alone, Zero made an agreement with Auster: He could deliver letters all he wanted, but he had to do so when Syl was either asleep or not around. Zero didn't know what Eileen herself had said to this plan, but Auster acquiesced without complaint. To this day Syl still had no idea that his brother was in contact with their parents.

It was Auster that Zero and Jewel waited for now, standing outside the little bakery in the rain. The sun was currently well-hidden behind thick rain clouds. It was entirely possible for Auster to show up now, despite it technically being the middle of the day.

And there he was. Zero held out his arm and allowed Auster to land on his soaked sleeve. Shoving aside the drenched silver bangs that were clinging to his brow, he then untied the envelope wrapped around Auster's body.

_Thanks, _Zero murmured to him. _You'll return at the usual time to pick up my sorry excuse for a reply, right?_ It was only out of formality that he asked; he already knew the answer was yes.

Auster merely replied, in an impersonal monotone, _Standing in the rain like this is bad for your health, young man._ Then he flapped his leathery wings and was flying away.

Zero tore open the damp envelope and pulled out the paper inside. A frown creased his face when he unfolded the letter. Every word had been reduced to a black, illegible smudge.

Zero stared hopelessly at the pouring rain. _This shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise._

Jewel pressed herself a little closer to him. _No big deal, I suppose. According to you, Eileen's letters are always the same anyway._ She paused. _Come to think of it, that makes me wonder why you bother reading all her letters in the first place._

_Out of respect._

_Respect? How stunning. I didn't know you found Eileen worthy of your respect, dear one._

The bat sounded so amused that it grated on Zero's nerves. _Shut up. You know I hate every word Eileen writes to me._

_Yes, you hate her words so much you read every single one of her letters._

_It's only because of Auster. If he has to travel all this way just to give me a pathetic paper, I might as well read it for him._

_What a courteous idea that you just that second made up._

_It's true, though!_

_Sure . . ._

Zero was growing increasingly indignant. _For crying out loud, Jewel, your mind is linked to mine. You can easily see how I feel, and thus you can see that Eileen truly means nothing to me._

_I think you misunderstand yourself. I think that, deep down, you're just as tired of this dead-end life as I am. In fact, I think it would do you good if I flew away to Eileen's house right now and informed her of where you are._

_You wouldn't dare! If you do that, Jewel, I swear I'll –_

_What? _she questioned. _What could you possibly do to me? You know you would never hurt me._

_I could hurt myself, couldn't I?_

It was the worst possible threat he could make to her. Jewel turned to stone on his shoulder. He waited for her to speak, but no reply arrived from her mind. She was stunned into silence. Satisfied, Zero once again pushed away the wet bangs that had stuck to his brow and inhaled a deep breath of heavy, sodden air. He stared out at the falling curtain of rain, trying to see past the glittery veil even though he knew he never could. Raindrops looked transparent when they were alone, but when falling together they could create an opaque wall not even vampiric sight could penetrate. It was something Zero liked about the rain – it could hide its secrets.

Then Jewel's voice returned and shattered his momentary peace of mind._ You know, I honestly would like to know why you read all the letters._

_I can't stand you! _Zero exploded, shoving her off his shoulder.

_Zero! _Jewel cried as he stormed away from her. _Where are you going?_

_Anywhere! _was his curtly hollered reply.

_Anywhere? _Jewel repeated incredulously._ That is a pitiful answer. At least _pretend_ you have some notion of where you're going, Zero._

He ignored her and simply strode down the sidewalk. But after only a few seconds, he abruptly halted and turned his head around. _I think there's someone there,_ he mumbled, squinting.

A speck of color drifted somewhere on the other side of the street. Red, it seemed like, from either hair or a shirt. Though cold raindrops beat against his face, Zero ignored them and gazed, wide-eyed, at this strange person. What a curious human who aimlessly wandered outside during the rain.

The person drew nearer. Zero held still, breathing quietly, watching as the human crossed the street. He was vaguely aware of Jewel's voice speaking to him, seemingly from miles away, but didn't really hear what she was saying. He felt quite fascinated by the sight of this human, this other literal outsider who didn't run from the rain, who passively let it beat down on her body instead.

The human reached the end of the street. She turned down the sidewalk and trudged close, her head down. Zero stepped aside, planning to let her pass him by –

_Grief._

She emanated anguish stronger than the sun radiated light. Zero's head snapped around, eyes locking on the human girl, mouth forced open with both shock and the fangs that had abruptly grown long. His heart, so quiet just a moment before, suddenly began pounding like a hammer, and his vision blurred as all thought was chased from his mind. The human was walking away with her back to him, unaware of his slipping sanity, thinking only about her own maddening grief_._

He didn't even think about it. He grabbed the human's arm and yanked her close. She managed barely a gasp before his fangs pierced the skin of her neck.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Kalista drowsily rubbed her eyes as she stumbled out of her coffin. "Syl," she mumbled, voice thick with sleep, "what are you doing awake? It's the middle of the afternoon."

He didn't respond. She spotted him standing in front of the window and moved to his side, leaning her arms on the windowsill like him. Though the window was mostly boarded up, between slits in the planks the outside world was still partly visible.

Outside, it was dark enough to almost pass for nighttime. There was no sunlight today, Kalista saw. It was hidden behind gloomy clouds, from which heavy rain poured. Large lumps of raindrops spattered against the windowpane, coating it with a thick sheen of water. She realized that it was the pounding of the rain that had woken her – and probably Syl – up.

"When I was real little," Syl suddenly murmured, "I thought rain was the clouds crying. I got pretty upset when it rained, since I didn't know why the clouds were sad. But then Zero made me feel better about it. He sung this little folksong about how the rain was nice because it didn't kill us like the sun." Syl paused. "There were also some other things in there that I didn't understand. I think it had something to do with humans, but I'm not sure. That part made no sense to me, but then again, Zero's always been a little crazy."

Kalista nodded. "I knew that. I knew that ever since he forced a total stranger to live in _his _home."

Syl laughed. "Yeah, that was pretty weird, wasn't it? But I did some thinking on that, and the more I think, the less weird it gets. I think Zero brought you here to make me less lonely and him less guilty when he leaves."

She looked at him. His eyes stayed trained to the slivers of exposed glass, not revealing anything. "Do you miss him?" she asked cautiously.

Something flashed through his eyes, but he hid it quickly. He shrugged. "I guess. But I'm used to it, since he disappears a lot."

"Haven't you ever wondered _why_ he disappears?"

"I used to ask him," Syl responded in a rather flat tone. "He never gave me a straight answer. If he wanted to keep quiet about something, I figured he had a good reason for it, so I decided to back off."

With the finish of that sentence, their conversation dwindled into silence. Outside, rain continued to fall, its many collisions with the earth creating a deep and mysterious rhythm.

"Zero talks in his sleep sometimes," Syl suddenly piped up. "I used to stay up all day and put my ear to his coffin to hear him. It's mostly just names, mumbled over and over. I hear mine and Jewel's a lot, but also a bunch of names that I don't recognize. Names like Eileen, Louis, Auster . . . oh, and Ruth. He says Ruth's name all the time, though I've got no idea who that is. Eventually I realized how pathetic it was to listen at a coffin and stopped doing that."

"Sounds like a movie plot," Kalista commented. In a booming voice, she grandly announced, "Now in theaters: _The Secret Double Life of Zero Rowning!"_

Once again Syl burst out laughing. "Boy, that's interesting to think about. Not that I'd care to think about it much – as long as Zero always comes back, I'm don't care what he does."

Kalista abruptly turned somber. "I wonder how my mom feels, waiting for me to come back." She stared at one of the raindrops on the window. It was sliding down the glass and streaking a little trail of water in its wake. "By now, she's probably had to give people some sort of excuse for my absence."

"I wonder what she told everyone," Syl remarked.

"I wonder who believed her," Kalista mused. She watched a raindrop on the windowpane touch another, and together they merged into one larger raindrop. "You know, I have a little cousin. Rosie. My mom and I visited her family a couple of years ago. I think Rosie knew something was up with me. She never questioned it when I refused to play with her in the sun, and she was always making jokes about how I was going to grow up to be a 'super-cool monster.' At least, we always _thought_ they were jokes."

"How old is she?" Syl asked.

Kalista counted on her fingers. "She should be nine now, but she was six when I last saw her."

"Ah, no wonder. Little kids are always the best at finding us out. When they get older, they're too busy thinking about other stuff to notice us vampires anymore."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

The human looked vaguely familiar, somehow. Zero scrutinized her for a few moments, but then quickly dismissed the thought. If she was important in some way, he figured he would've remembered her better. Kneeling down, he laid his hand on her face and began to erase her memory.

Jewel hovered nearby, gazing down at them with concerned black eyes. _Zero?_ she whispered. Her voice was soft, hesitant.

_What?_ he muttered.

_I'm your bat,_ she murmured quietly. _I'm your servant and I'm bound to you. You know that. I can lecture you about your screwed-up family all I want, but I could never act on what I say unless you allowed it._

He exhaled a deep breath. _I know._

The noise of the rain was quieting. The falling drops of water were lighter now.

_I hate her,_ he suddenly found himself saying.

Jewel shook her head. _You hate what she did to Ruth. It's not quite the same thing, dear one._

He frowned but didn't bother responding. Jewel shifted her glittery eyes to his unconscious victim. _How long are you going to take with that?_ she asked.

_What?_ He abruptly realized that his hand was still on the human's face. He swiftly jerked backward. _Damn it! I probably erased a lot more of her memory than I should've._

_Nothing we can do about that,_ Jewel told him tiredly. _Let's just go, Zero. We need to find a place to hide before the sun comes out._

Zero reluctantly agreed and stood. The sky was lightening; they couldn't afford to linger.

As he walked away from the fallen human, Jewel spoke suddenly to him. _It just occurred to me._

_Yes?_

_Auster is Eileen's bat, not yours. If he ever wanted to tell her where you are, he could._

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Nelson Williams couldn't see his brother, but he could easily imagine the expression on his face right now – exhausted and lined with worry. Very uncharacteristic of Scott.

"Are you sure my daughter's okay?" Scott asked yet again. His voice sounded slightly hoarse, though whether that was due to fatigue or a bad phone connection, Nelson wasn't sure.

"Totally fine," Nelson reassured him. "Nicky's sleeping now – she seemed really tired when I found her."

"And she honestly won't tell you what she was doing there in Truze City?"

"She swears that she can't remember how or why she came," Nelson said. "It reminds me of that case we had back in October, when that Jane York girl couldn't remember why she was sleeping on the street. It's a real shame we had to close that case before we solved it – this amnesia seems to be spreading. It certainly would be bad if another kid –"

"Nelson?"

"Yes?"

"Just bring Nicky home."


	15. The Joys of Ice

My brother used to have a keyboard where the N key, the spacebar, and three of the arrow keys didn't work. And it literally didn't have a left arrow key. The key got torn off somehow.

It used to be that every time my brother needed to use the letter N, he'd copy and paste it off something. But after the spacebar died, that method got way too annoying. Can you imagine doing that? Take this sentence here: T-A-K-E (copy and paste a space) T-H-I-S (copy and paste a space) S-E-(copy and paste an N)-T-E-(copy and paste an N)-C-E (copy and paste a space) H-E-R-E. That's what it was like.

Luckily he's gotten a new keyboard since then, because I'm using his computer right now to type this chapter. Though I must say, there's a rather disconcerting amount of food stuck between the keys . . .

So, now that you've heard our sob story, read this chapter and review!

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Fifteen: The Joys of Ice**

With mid December came an onslaught of snow flurries, draping the whole of Truze City in a shimmering cape of white. By day, snowflakes clouded the air and piled up on every surface.

The night, however, was piercingly clear. Kalista had gone outside soon after the flurries stopped falling and found a tall building on the street. With vampiric agility she scaled this deserted tower and reached the top of the broad flat roof, which was coated with a soft layer of snow.

Though she was still capable of feeling cold, it didn't bother her as much now as it had before her awakening. She'd lain down and sunk into the snow and not moved for a while since. The stars shone so intensely against the frosted winter sky that it almost made Kalista's eyes smart to look at them. Even if she couldn't see the sun anymore, at least the stars were also beautiful in their own right.

She'd told herself she wasn't going to stay out long. But a snowy landscape had the power to swallow noises and turning reality into a hazy dream. Her vision blurred, and though she blinked hard several times the few shapes around her wouldn't return to clarity. This dream was comforting. She shut her eyes, sleepy, and felt her mind drifting . . . .

The footsteps were muted in the soft snow, but the sound of them still managed to drag Kalista back to the real world. She waited, but though the footsteps faded into silence she could tell that their owner was still nearby. She brought her eyes back open, waking up to the sight of Zero Rowning sitting beside her, his cloudy green gaze on her face.

"Hey," he said.

She looked up at him blankly, numbly, like she'd never seen him before. Waves of various emotions rose inside her, falling and crashing into each other and overwhelming her so much that all she could do was stare. She lay paralyzed for so long that Zero eventually noticed. He blinked and frowned. He leaned a little closer to her. He said, "Kal –"

She sprang up like a hunting tiger and threw herself at him, punching and clawing and thrashing. He cried out in surprise and threw his arms up, only defending himself at first but then reaching out to fight back. She attacked every part of his body she could reach, delirious with fury, mindless of everything in the world except the scoundrel before her. She wouldn't stop screaming with rage even after he caught her wrists and forced them above her head, rendering her no longer able to fight. She hissed at him and spit in his face and called him vile names. Her voice never felt loud enough, absorbed as it was by the snow around them.

He watched her, his face even paler than usual, his grip on her wrists never slackening. He waited until she finally used up the entire sudden burst of energy and stopped, lowering her head and panting. Several minutes passed before her breath grew steadier. Only then did he deign to release her.

"Thank you for the warm welcome," he deadpanned.

She scowled at him. "You left us."

"I wrote."

"One measly note; and not a single kind word in it!"

"At least I'm alive."

"It might've been better if you weren't; at least that would give you an excuse. You've been gone for half a year. You're not living that down." Then she slapped her forehead and groaned. "I am a fool, aren't I? I haven't even said Syl's name yet, and he's the one who really got hurt."

Her words instantly erased his hard stare. "Syl knows that I always come back," he said, sounding genuinely surprised.

"You'd never left him alone for this long before," Kalista replied coldly. "You'd better go and apologize to him."

With that she threw herself back down into the snow. She squeezed her eyes shut and counted impatiently to fifty. It did nothing to improve her sour mood.

At the end of the count her eyes opened again. She glowered at the vampire sitting cross-legged beside her. "What, you're still here?"

Zero grimaced. "I'm not good with apologies."

"Oh well. Too bad."

Kalista continued glaring at him, waiting for him to grow tired of her hostility and leave. She held that venomous expression steady, to the point that in the back of her mind she worried her face would freeze that way. Still Zero did not stand up. He responded to her glare with a curiously flat look. It wasn't quite the same as Syl's childlike bewilderment – which unfortunately Kalista had grown too familiar with over time – but the expression was similar enough to gradually make the atmosphere feel more and more awkward.

Zero's brow furrowed. "You look sort of dry. I suppose you haven't been feeding enough?"

She could've strangled him. Instead, she reported in a monotone, "Enough to stay alive."

"Well, that's an improvement," he said blankly. "But it's pretty clear to me that you're still too attached to the human race."

"I don't care. At least I'm alive." Too late she realized that she'd copied what he said before. She cringed with regret, but what could she do? The words had already left her mouth.

He didn't comment on the irony. "Alive . . . but not really living, are you? There's a difference between living and merely existing."

"And you would know about the difference?" she muttered.

He turned his face upward, gazing deeply at the sky and the dazzling stars. "The first human I ever bit," he murmured, "was a young man who loved a girl, but she was gone from his life. He was like the essence of grief itself. He said he would never find someone who made him as happy as her. And he was a really young guy – he was supposed to have a whole human life ahead of him. I took away his grief for a month but he probably went back to pining as soon as the effects of my bite wore off."

He paused. "So there you go. Don't waste your life away like that guy."

"Poor man," she said quietly. "I'll bet his family tells him every day that he has to get over her, but he can't help the way he feels. He just knows that nothing will ever change, because she's too much a part of him now."

"We're not talking about that guy anymore, are we?"

"You don't understand humans at all," she told him flatly. "They're just meals to you."

"They are not. I don't have a problem with humans, Kalista. But as vampires there's not much we can do about our need for their blood. You can't fight that."

"Exactly what I'd expect to hear from someone who's never loved a human."

She'd expected a sharp retort from him. Instead she was startled when sudden pain flashed through Zero's eyes. But it disappeared quickly - so quickly she wondered if she'd actually seen it.

"Humans are strong," she murmured. "Do you know that?"

"Of course I know," he whispered, and for a moment Kalista was caught off-guard by the faint trembling in his voice. "Believe me, I do. Most vampires think they're better than humans just because we can speak to bats and erase memories and other cheap tricks like that. But if we were truly stronger, we wouldn't be the ones hiding our existence from them."

"And they can walk under the sun," she added.

"But we can't do that at all."

"We can't live without feeding off their blood."

"But they could probably do just fine without us."

Kalista stood up. "If you can admit that, you're ready for that apology. But just so you know, don't expect Syl to forgive you easily. I imagine he's going to yell his lungs hoarse at you and make you grovel at his feet for hours before he even smiles at you again."

Zero looked weary but not resentful. "I know."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

"Zero!" Syl joyously exclaimed the instant he opened the door and saw who was standing outside. He launched himself into his brother's arms, burying his face into Zero's jacket and embracing him like he'd never been happier to see anyone.

Though Zero returned the embrace warmly, over Syl's head he shot Kalista an accusing look. She cringed at his implied meaning. _You're telling me _this_ is the guy who wants me to grovel for forgiveness at his feet?_

She edged around them and stuck her head into the doorway of the Truze House. _Jewel? _she called softly with her mind.

_I'm here._

Kalista looked upward and saw Jewel hanging upside-down from a ceiling beam. The bat's eyes seemed to be shut. _Welcome back. Tired?_

_Yes. Leave me alone, please._

Kalista stepped back outside, closing the door behind her.

Syl was speaking animatedly to Zero. "Hey, Zero, did you notice all the snow out?"

"It's a little hard to miss, Syl."

"Let's build a snowman."

Zero blinked. "A snowman?"

"Yeah, a snowman. That's what people do when it snows. They build snowmen!"

"Syl, the Truze House is supposed to look deserted . . ."

"Who says we have to build it here?" Kalista pointed out. "I know a good place."

"You haven't played with me since June," Syl added. "You gotta say yes this time." His grin was flawless but the subtle threat was there.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Syl's initial plans were for a record-breaking giant snowman, but he quickly changed his mind when he learned how astonishingly heavy a ball of compacted snow could be.

They built the snowman on the sidewalk in front of Jane York's apartment. Kalista hoped Jane would be able to see it from whichever window was hers.

Kalista stood in front of the finished snowman now, admiring their work. Stacked up together, the three not-really-spherical mounds of snow were about the same height as her. The snowman's flimsy arms were two thin twigs jabbed into either side of its midsection. Its disproportionate eyes and lopsided smile were formed by a handful of small rocks that looked like they could fall off the lumpy face any second. So clumsily made, and yet Kalista couldn't help but find the snowman endearing.

Syl was suddenly there at her side. "I found this in a trash can in that back alley over there." He held up a wooden picket sign.

She took the sign from him and examined both sides. Emblazoned onto the front in bright orange paint were the words, "EAT AT BILL'S." The back was devoid of any message. She smiled and remarked, "You know, I could make use of this if I had some paint."

"Will a marker work?" Syl asked, taking a thick black one out of his pocket.

"You carry a marker around?"

"Of course. Some would rather use pen when they draw on sleeping people's faces, but I always liked markers better."

With slight wince and a word of thanks, Kalista took the marker from him. In the hugest letters that would fit, she wrote on the back of the sign, _Happy holidays to Jane York._ With an unnecessary dramatic flourish that garnered a laugh from Syl, she planted the sign under their snowman's arm. Her message faced the front of the building, like the snowman. "EAT AT BILL'S" was turned away towards the street.

Zero spoke then. "We should get back home before the sun comes up."

"Sure, let's –" Kalista was cut off by the sound of the picket sign suddenly collapsing.

She stared blankly at it. "Um . . . I'll catch up to you two later after I set this sign up again."

Five minutes later she was alone, still trying to shove the sign's pointed handle into the snow and have it stay upright. After another five she surrendered with a sigh, resorting to merely leaning the sign on the snowman's body. The backside of the sign was no longer revealed. Not many people were going to be eating at BILL'S anytime soon, it looked like.

Footsteps sounded, coming up behind her on the sidewalk. She turned, expecting to see Zero or Syl asking her what was keeping her so long. Instead she was startled by the sight of a human standing before her, blond and blue-eyed and wearing a heavy brown coat. His eyes moved as he read the message on the picket sign. He read it several times. Then he shifted his gaze to her, and she could practically feel him taking in her purple hair and red-tinted irises. His expression was searching, as if she were puzzle that he was only a few pieces away from solving. She suddenly remembered that this man was Jane's father.

Axel York inclined his head to her. "Thanks for the snowman. I'm sure Jane will love it."

She swallowed; her throat had gone dry. "Good. I'm hoping this will brighten her morning."

"It will. We appreciate that. Jane hasn't gotten much peace since my divorce to her mother was decided."

"And I see you haven't either."

"That's nothing new. I haven't had peace in a long time."

"Because of your marriage?"

He shook his head. "Long before that."

Axel drifted past her in a way that somehow didn't feel rude. In a slow, ghost-like manner he lifted his hat off his head and gently placed it atop the snowman's. He stepped back and smiled faintly at the new decoration.

"You never met me," Kalista found herself saying to him. "Jane doesn't know me. Yet I built a snowman for her. Don't you think that's strange?"

"Sure," Axel replied. "But that isn't new either. I've seen a lot of strange things in my life."

His voice was a normal voice and at the same time it was not. Listening to him speak, it made Kalista feel like he was just a little bit less alive than the rest of them, a little bit less human.

"I don't love her," he suddenly confessed in a soft tone. He still faced the snowman, but Kalista listened to every word as if he were speaking to her. "I never loved Jane's mother. There was a time when I thought I did, but the truth is that my heart has always belonged to someone else."

For one instant, for the space of one half-second, Kalista wondered what would happen to him if she drank a few sips of his blood. She wondered if she could make his pain go away.

But then he looked at her with his human blue eyes, eyes from which a sort of invisible light seemed to shine. It felt like his eyes were a window showing her a glimpse of his peculiar mind. All at once, she realized with stunning clarity that he was too strong to ever need someone like her.

"Go home," he ordered flatly. "Now. Before the sun comes up."


	16. The Vampire Council

For the previous chapter, I asked my brother how tall the average snowman is. He said, "About as tall as the person making it." Good answer.

Please review.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Sixteen: The Vampire Council**

"He left!" Syl shouted angrily.

His voice was so loud that Kalista started awake, banging her head on the lid of her coffin. After a quick mutter of pain she shoved the lid aside and sat up, seeing Syl stomping in circles around the room. "Who?" she mumbled.

"Zero! He left!"

Her sleepiness vanished at once. "What, are you kidding me? He leaves for a half-year and then takes off again after two days? Did he leave a note?"

"No!"

"Damn him! He didn't even leave a note?"

"Wait a minute." Syl stopped in place. "What's the date?" he asked quickly.

"Today? Um . . . December twentieth, I think. Or maybe it's the twenty-first."

Syl's brown eyes went wide. "I got it. He's gone to northern Japan."

"_Where?"_

"For the vampire council." Syl began pacing madly again, and Kalista thought he might wear down the soles of his sneakers. "I don't understand, though. He never went to the council in past years. But why else would he leave on this specific day?"

Kalista's head was spinning. "Wait, wait, what's this vampire council?"

"Oh, some boring meeting that the grown-ups have every December where they discuss the impending doom of our race or something," Syl explained impatiently. "But that's not the point. We've got to hitch a ride to the north and find Zero and totally kick his butt for deserting us again!"

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Strong winds were blowing. Kalista's hair whipped her face and her eyes kept tearing up. She tried shutting them a few times, but the darkness they brought was even more frightening. So she kept her eyes open and was blinded anyway. The snowy scenery raced by in the form of continuous flashes of white.

"Syl," she shouted over the noise. "I'm not convinced that riding on the roof of a moving train is safe."

He had to yell too though he sat close to her. "When did I ever say this was safe?"

At that moment the train made a sharp turn. Syl and Kalista both shrieked in momentary panic even though they weren't thrown off the flat roof.

"Why do vampires bother with this?" Kalista exclaimed. "Is this council even worth going to?"

"Heck, no, but then again most of the things grown-ups do don't seem worth it," Syl hollered.

Somehow her mind was still in enough working order to notice his emphasis on grown-ups. "Is Zero even old enough to go?"

"No. He'll probably listen at the door or something."

"But you said he wasn't interested in the council before. Why is he going this year, of all years?"

"Beats me. Maybe he wants to see if any more of our relatives have died yet."

"Wait a minute, you two have relatives?"

Syl froze like a statue. "Um . . . forget I said anything. Really."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Kalista and Syl shivered in the cold air. Crouched behind bushes, they stared up at the ancient castle where the council was taking place. To Kalista it seemed to come straight out of a gothic horror novel, complete with tall spires and a huge drop-down door and a stony exterior. A thin white blanket of snow lay over the roof.

A cluster of young women were walking in through the gaping door. Most of them wore long white dresses that seemed to herald from an earlier era.

"Who are they?" Kalista asked as softly as she could.

"They call them the 'young wives.' They always sit separate from everyone else. Don't know why."

They seemed to be barely older than Kalista herself. But vampires were immortal, so their appearance was nothing to go by. For all Kalista knew they could be centuries old. And at any rate, if they were allowed to attend the council then they had to be adults.

A sudden thought struck her. "Syl . . . if they only let adults come here, how are we going to get in?"

"I . . . don't . . . know."

"You didn't think of that on the way here?"

"No . . ." Syl made a face.

Kalista squinted at the young wives. "Do you think I can pass off as one of them?"

"Sure, if you can somehow explain why you're not wearing an impractical white dress."

"They're not all wearing dresses. I could pull it off like this."

"They'll think you're pretty rude."

"But they'll still let me in?"

"Maybe . . ."

She stood up. "I'm going."

He looked at her with concern. "Kalista, you don't have to do that. If you get caught you'll be in trouble."

"I'm going," she repeated anyway, more forceful this time. "I won't get caught. Just wait here for me and I'll bring Zero back to you."

As she expected he didn't seem to have the will to argue. Kalista stepped over the bushes and raced towards the young wives, joining the end of their group just as the last of them entered the castle. A few of them gave her outfit odd looks, but to her relief they didn't speak to her or ask her to leave.

As she followed them up a long staircase, the Rowning brothers weighed heavily on her mind. On the surface the situation seemed ridiculous, traveling a whole day to get here and sneaking into a castle just to track down one boy. But it was worth it as far as Kalista was concerned. Syl would never admit it in a million years, but she knew that even his normally-unbreakable faith in his brother had its limits. The last time, he'd seriously thought Zero had abandoned him.

He didn't deserve to feel that way again.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

The young wives stood on a balcony near the ceiling of the room. Kalista leaned against the railing, feeling vaguely terrified at the sight of so many adult vampires sitting at the large rectangular table down below. Somehow she'd gotten used to the idea of just her, Syl and Zero, alone in a big world.

An extremely ancient vampire, apparently known simply as the Elder, sat in a cushy armchair at the head of the table. "We have lost many this year," he said in a dry sandpaper voice. "Jonathan Chen. Carol Fox. Alan Payne. James Marker."

The Elder gripped the sides of his chair tightly, making his bony hands look even more frail. "They were our comrades with whom we have stood together against great adversity."

The emotion seemed to overwhelm him. He doubled over in his chair, crying and wheezing. A light-haired girl raced over to him, clasping his hands. "Elder!" she cried. "Please calm yourself."

One of the young wives standing near Kalista muttered, "The Elder isn't going to last much longer."

The light-haired girl by the Elder sighed. "So we've lost some. Any new births?"

"Same as last year," someone told her. "None."

The unease in the room abruptly intensified. Kalista felt like the air itself had changed, becoming thicker and heavier. She noticed that one of the wives around her had tears in her eyes.

"Our numbers are steadily decreasing," whispered one man at the table. "Perhaps our fate is to vanish before the humans . . ."

"Don't be ridiculous!" screamed another man, banging his fists on the tabletop. "We are vastly superior to humans! How can we die while weak mortals with a lifespan of less than a century flourish?"

Another man with a triangular face and a black goatee said, "It's absurd to talk about either of us dying out. We need human blood to survive. The reality is that if they go, so do we. We have to find a better way to live with them, if we want to continue to live at all."

_Good man,_ Kalista thought.

But the angry one only grew more enraged. Again he banged his fists on the table. "If vampires and humans could live together, we never would have had to migrate here in the first place!" he snapped.

A vampire with scraggly hair remarked, "But with the rise in deaths and new births at zero . . . we're headed for trouble." He added more quietly, "It's only a matter of time."

Kalista remembered something Syl had told her long ago, when they'd first met. _You wouldn't know this, but vamp kids are treasured more than treasure. _So this was why. She'd had no idea.

The angry vampire suddenly spoke again. "Let us not forget," he announced firmly, "that there's one couple here responsible for _three _children."

All eyes in the room immediately turned to two vampires at the middle of the table: the man with the goatee and the woman who sat next to him, presumably his wife.

The not-so-angry-anymore vampire asked the woman, "What's the secret to your success, Calera? Special technique?"

Her husband exploded. "_Elsman, how dare you speak to my wife in such a manner!"_

"Henry!" his wife snapped. She shot him a piercing glare. He grimaced and settled back down in his chair.

"All right," said Calera. "I'll tell you. How can a vampire create new life? It's all about one thing."

Everyone leaned a little closer to her, waiting with bated breath.

"LOVE!" she declared.

Her husband practically fell out of his chair. Every vampire in the room gaped at Calera, stupefied by the simple announcement.

Kalista fought the urge to laugh insanely.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

The meeting ended soon after, but not before a fair share of vampires – mostly women – bombarded Calera with questions. Kalista was amazed at how desperate these people were for children. Though many people were leaving she couldn't help but linger near the doorway, watching Calera from a distance.

Calera still sat at the table, appearing tired after the mass interrogation. "They think I'm a fertility god or something," she groaned.

Standing around her were her husband and a short vampire. The latter said in a squeaky voice, "You're the only vampire to have multiple children in the last hundred years. It's no wonder you're so popular with the other wives."

"That's not true."

The three of them whirled around to face another vampire who had walked up to them: a pale woman in a lavender coat. Her hair was silver and very long.

"That's not true," she repeated, her voice dead flat. "I had more than one child as well, Calera. But after you and Henry had Anju nobody acknowledges my children anymore."

"With all due respect, Eileen," said the squeaky-voiced man. "It's not just because of their daughter. Your children are gone – nobody knows where they are. That's why they're not acknowledged."

Eileen gritted her teeth. "I am still in contact with my son Zero. My bat ferries letters between us."

The floor seemed to slip for second. If Kalista hadn't already been leaning against the wall, she would've lost her balance and fallen. She stared at Eileen with a new vision, noticing the features of her face.

Green eyes. Murky green eyes. _Just like Zero's._

"That doesn't matter," the squeaky-voiced man told her. "That doesn't change the fact that no one knows where they are. They could be dead and no one would notice."

He gathered up his cloak and threw it on over his shoulders. Calera and Henry followed suit, and the three of them headed for the door. Henry looked at Eileen over his shoulder as they left, his expression sympathetic. "Good night, Ms. Rowning."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Eileen Rowning went to a train station after the meeting. She bought a ticket and boarded a train. She sat down in a beige seat near a square window and sighed, appearing exhausted.

Kalista sat down in the seat next to her, having followed her onto the train. "Hi," she said.

Eileen glanced at her. "Hello." Her green eyes drifted to the window, staring sightlessly at the snow and night sky. Even after the train started moving the scenery outside didn't vary much.

_I don't know why, but he started feuding with the rest of the world._

_Zero ups and leaves like this all the time . . . I don't know where he goes._

_Of course I know how strong humans are. Believe me, I know._

_Zero talks in his sleep sometimes. It's mostly just names like Eileen, Louis, Auster . . . oh, and Ruth._

_I am still in contact with Zero. My bat ferries letters between us._

_That doesn't change the fact that no one knows where they are._

Kalista had always known that Zero had been hiding something. She had followed Syl's lead and refrained from speculating much about it. But now it seemed like Zero's secret was bigger than she'd ever imagined – huge enough to tear a family apart.

She wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery. In a way, she felt like she had to, since it was clear Syl knew nothing of it. Eileen Rowning was sitting right next to her – there was never going to be another chance as great as that. But how could Kalista coax a sure-to-be painful story out of her? To Eileen she was just a stranger on a train. The pressure to come up with something to say was overwhelming.

She thought back to the faces of the young wives she had attended the council with. Inspiration struck. "So you're Eileen Rowning?" Kalista asked, trying to sound like a naïve young girl.

Eileen blinked. "How do you know my name?"

"Oh, you're a bit famous, really. I heard you managed to have two children!"

Snow was still falling outside, swirling with the wind. It coated the edges of the window, compacted so tightly it appeared a sort of dark blue. The train chugged away with an even rhythm.

Eileen shook her head. "No," she said. "I had three children: Sylvester, Zero, and Ruth."


	17. Ruth

**Seventeen: Ruth**

Kalista felt paralyzed with shock.

_No. I had three children: Sylvester, Zero, and Ruth._

They had a sibling. Zero and Syl had another sibling that she didn't know about. Did _they_ even know?

Syl's voice echoed in her head. _Zero talks in his sleep sometimes. It's mostly just names . . . He says Ruth's name all the time, though I've got no idea who that is._

Zero knew. Syl didn't.

Kalista's mind raced through the past half-year, scrambling for details of her past conversations with Zero. She racked her brain for an indication, any hint at all that alluded towards Ruth, their unknown sibling. Maybe he'd been too secretive or maybe it was just a fault of her memory, but she couldn't come up with anything.

_Your children are gone._

That's what had been said. As in, _all_ of them were gone. So where on Earth was Ruth Rowning?

"Excuse me?" Eileen's voice cut into Kalista thoughts. "Are you all right? You look a little sick."

"Yes, I'm fine," Kalista said. She hoped she sounded somewhat normal though her mind was reeling. "Three children – right. That's what I meant to say."

There were so many questions in her head and she couldn't ask any of them. She felt tortured.

Eileen studied her. Silver strands of hair fell casually around her eyes when she tilted her head to one side. "You look like Ruth."

"Oh. Do I?"

"Well, no, actually you don't. I guess I only said that because I was thinking of her." Eileen frowned to herself. "It's been so long now, though. I can't really remember what Ruth's face looked like."

Alarmed, Kalista quickly conjured an image of Carol in her head. It was still clear. She wondered briefly if the same held true for her mother.

"Why can't you remember?" Kalista asked. "Can you tell me about her?"

"It's a rather long story."

"I have time. Tell me the whole story, please."

Eileen's hands were clasped in her lap. Her gaze darted out the dark window a few times. She looked at Kalista, her cloudy green eyes seeming to dim somewhat. Then her gaze went down to her hands.

"My daughter was a beautiful girl," Eileen murmured, half to herself, sounding a bit dreamy. "She had my silver hair and her father's lovely brown eyes. But she wasn't vain. She was kind and cheerful. I was almost scared of her – she seemed so perfect. I was certain I'd never done anything to deserve a daughter like her."

Eileen darted a glance at Kalista, seeming uncertain as to whether to keep talking. Kalista gave her a slight nod. So Eileen went on, slowly, still avoiding Kalista's eyes. "Ruth was very curious about humans, though. That was her worst flaw. When she was thirteen, she started going outside during cloudy and rainy days. She'd go to a playground that was a few blocks down from our home and play with human children there. She went every chance she got. She was amazingly late to awaken, so she was able to keep that habit up for years."

"Didn't you mind that she was spending time with humans?" Kalista questioned.

"I had other worries," Eileen mumbled. "Around the time that Ruth started going to that playground, I had my second child. Zero was very sick when he was born. My husband Louis and I were busy keeping him alive, too much so to worry about Ruth. In fact, in some strange way, we were actually grateful that she had a way to occupy herself."

"What happened to Zero?"

"He lived, but it took a long time for us to know that he would. During that time, Ruth met a human boy at the playground. She mentioned to us that he was nice and that she liked to play with him. But she didn't say much else about him. I thought it was rather cute, the thought of her having a little human friend. I was so used to thinking of her as my child; I didn't realize that perhaps the situation was more serious than it looked. I forgot that Ruth was a teenager at that time."

Eileen's nails dug into her skin. "At sixteen Ruth finally started showing signs of awakening. Her personality changed dramatically. She started going to that playground more and more, even when the sun was out. She'd come home with burns and I would ground her, but the next day she would sneak out and burn herself again. By the time she lost her sense of taste she hardly spent any time at home."

"She was panicking, wasn't she?" Kalista realized.

"Yes. She loved the daytime so much. The thought of never seeing it again was unbearable to her; she wanted every minute she could get. She didn't say it, but later on I learned she was spending a lot of that time with that human boy.

"She awakened at last and became distraught. She wouldn't leave her room. Louis and I waited for her to get better but she didn't. One night I went into her room to talk to her, try to figure out what was so wrong. Ruth told me about that human boy, and said . . . ."

Eileen bit her lip, causing it to bleed. Though she trembled with dismay it seemed that she was also somehow angry. "She said she was desperately in love with him. She said she hated being a vampire and would give anything to be human, but even though that's impossible she said it wasn't going to stop her. She said she wanted to marry him and spend her life with him! I was furious at her for saying such things. I told her she could have no future with a human, that she would only will herself into misery. But Ruth, she was seventeen and idealistic and ridiculous. She said she loved him and that was all that mattered to her."

Eileen wiped the line of blood on her mouth. "I shouted, 'Really? Well, if you love that human so much, then why don't you leave us in peace and go crawling to him?' And that's exactly what she did, not too long later. She ran out the door and I never saw her again."

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Several minutes passed.

"I'm sorry," Eileen mumbled. "That was far too much information you didn't need to hear."

"No, I . . . I think you needed to say it."

Kalista suddenly recalled that vampires were immortal. Humans were not. In her mind she saw a ravaged old man standing next to a beautiful girl that was untouched by time. The image was disturbing.

She kneaded her forehead. "What did you tell Zero when his sister left?"

"We told him she went on a very long vacation and left it at that. He was so young at the time that he was willing to buy it. Or rather, we _thought_ he'd taken our explanation, because he didn't ask about it again. But looking back at it now, I think Zero was quicker to catch on than we thought. I don't think Ruth ever completely left his mind.

"I had Sylvester, my youngest, about a half-year after Ruth left. He had the same eyes as her, but I tried not to notice . . . . Years went by. One morning after our sons had gone to sleep, Louis and I sat in a room talking about Zero. He was eleven then, but he'd just started showing signs of awakening, which seemed incredibly early considering how long it took Ruth to mature."

Eileen rubbed her damp eyes. "As soon as Ruth's name came up we couldn't stop talking about her. I thought back to that day when I told her to get out. I realized that I didn't know whether that human boy had taken her in or not.

"That night, we woke up to find Zero and Sylvester gone.

"He figured it out somehow. Maybe he listened at our door. He left a note saying that he knew what happened to Ruth and that he was furious with us for turning her out. He said he left with Sylvester, and that they were never coming back.

"Zero's technically been true to his promise. I haven't seen his face in about six years now, but I have been in contact with him – our bats carry letters. Not that these letters are anything interesting. They're all the same, with me asking for forgiveness and him saying that I'm unforgivable."

Something didn't feel right. Kalista asked, "Didn't you ever try finding him and speaking to him in person?"

She didn't answer.

"Eileen?"

The woman stared hard at her lap, fists clenching. "I couldn't find the will to try." She sounded close to the edge. "Zero told me I'm unforgivable, and the sad thing is I don't know if he's right or not. If he is, I don't want to find out . . ."

The train jolted to a stop. A number of people stood up and headed for the opening doors. Eileen rose as well and stepped into the aisle, her back to Kalista.

"Zero's birthday is next month," she mumbled without turning. "January eleventh. He'll be turning eighteen."

Then Eileen Rowning walked off the train, and the doors closed behind her.

In a few minutes the train began moving again. Kalista leaned back into her seat, suddenly exhausted. She scratched an itch on the top of her head but strangely it wouldn't go away.

In the next moment she realized it wasn't an itch. A tidal wave of emotion crashed into her mind, making her gasp and clutch the sides of her seat. The outside world hadn't changed at all, but inside she felt like hammers were pounding her head.

It was anger, pure and simple. Intense anger sent from another mind. Kalista could feel her eyes pulling wide, wide open with shock and pain as Jewel's acrid voice sounded in her head.

_I'm on the roof of the train. We're going home._


	18. Bats

Hi people. For this chapter's author note, I've decided to post some fun facts. All of them are true.

Humans are the only animals that sleep on their backs.

After you die, your hair still continues growing for a few months.

"Stressed" is "desserts" spelled backwards.

After reading this chapter, you will leave me a review. Thank you very much.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Eighteen: Bats**

It turned out that Zero hadn't gone to the vampire council after all. He hadn't even left the city. He'd merely gone out to hunt, though that wasn't what Syl had thought upon waking to find his brother away. A part of Kalista felt mad at Zero for the kind of mindset he'd caused Syl to develop. Another part of her was ashamed for leaping to the same conclusion as Syl, never thinking that their highly implausible idea might be wrong.

Zero was already waiting for them at the Truze House when they arrived home. At Jewel's command, Kalista and Syl blamed their absence on an extremely long walk. It was obvious enough that Zero didn't believe them, but he pretended to anyway and didn't ask questions.

Kalista remembered what Eileen had told her. After Ruth left, Eileen told Zero that his sister had gone for a "very long vacation." Zero had pretended to believe his mother. Now he was pretending again with them. Kalista wondered what was going through his mind.

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

Some time later, Kalista closed the lid of her coffin and lay back, shutting her eyes. Morning had come. Thin streams of sunlight were beginning to push in through the windows, which had forced her to retreat to her dark coffin, but she wasn't sure if she could sleep in her uneasy state of mind.

Scarcely a minute passed before Jewel's voice barged into Kalista's head. _Don't sleep just yet._

"What?" Kalista mumbled.

_Don't speak out loud. Zero and Syl may be in their coffins right now, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're asleep or that they can't hear you._

_What?_ Kalista tried again. Though her coffin encased her in darkness, in her mind's eye she could picture Jewel hanging upside-down from a ceiling beam with her eyes shut, pretending to be sleeping while really talking to her.

_How much did Eileen tell you?_ Jewel asked, her voice very wary.

_Everything she knows._

Kalista felt Jewel's astonishment. _That . . . that . . ._

_How much do you know, Jewel? _Kalista cut the bat off gently.

The reluctant answer was: _About as much as you know now._

_And Zero?_

_He may know more than us, but I doubt it. He doesn't know that you know, but besides that we're basically all on the same page now._

_What about Syl?_

_He knows nothing._

Kalista supposed she shouldn't be so surprised. _Zero didn't tell him anything?_

_No. Syl isn't aware that he has a sister._

_Why?_

_I don't know. I suppose Zero thought that if Syl knew how messed-up their situation was, Syl would grow disillusioned with the world._

_Well, we all know how great Zero did with that . . ._

_At least he tried._

It was silent for a few moments.

_Eileen's upset,_ Kalista said softly.

_It doesn't matter how upset she is,_ Jewel replied tiredly. _It can't change what happened._

_But you guys can still change how you feel. Tell me, Jewel, is Eileen really so unforgivable?_

_Zero thinks so._

_What about you?_

Jewel didn't answer. She didn't have to, either. Kalista felt torn between an urge to be angry and another to laugh.

_It's been six years, Jewel. Why haven't you told Eileen where her sons are?_

_Zero doesn't allow me to go to Eileen, _Jewel said flatly.

_Don't you carry letters to her?_

_No. Auster does all the work._

_And Auster is . . . ?_

_He's Eileen's bat._

_Then why hasn't _he _told her?_

To her surprise, Jewel's tone abruptly turned bitter. _Why, _the bat asked, her voice rising, _are you saying this? You've always loved humans so much. I would've thought that after hearing what Eileen did, you would've hated her._

_I certainly don't like her, but I don't hate her either. It's just that I can't stand to see a family torn apart like this._

_Family. What do you know about family?_

In response Kalista showed her a collection of images, all of them taken from her memories. There was Carol Belle, smiling at her daughter, bringing her to school, singing lullabies to her at night, fighting against Luis Mendez and the ugly accusations he threw at her. Kalista showed Jewel herself at a younger age, sitting in her bedroom, able to hear Carol yelling at Mendez from downstairs. It made her think that Carol was closer to her than everyone else on Earth.

She showed Jewel that day from June, when Kalista realized she would have to leave the truest family she'd ever had. The pain that had followed. The anger at the world. The confusion. She knew there was no point in being so mad, because it wouldn't do anything, but for a long time she didn't care and was mad anyway.

And then she showed Jewel the day when they had met, on her sixth grade field trip. The first time Jewel had touched her mind. Her low voice murmuring, _You are just like me. _Later Kalista would know what she had meant. What they were doing now, the way they were existing – Jewel wasn't sure if it was right either.

_I know,_ Kalista said firmly, _exactly what Zero was going through when he lost his sister._

_So you think Eileen is forgivable? _Jewel asked wearily. _You think it was acceptable for her to turn out her own daughter?_

Kalista paused, hesitating. _No,_ she admitted, _I don't think that's acceptable at all. But I also think it's bad to feud endlessly with your parents._

_Even if those parents are unforgivable?_

_Even if they're unforgivable, I think that they should at least have the chance to see their kids again and attempt to explain themselves. The way we're living right now, Jewel, is not right. And maybe this move I'm making isn't right either. But it has to be better than nothing._

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

_It's too bright,_ Jewel grumbled, nestling closer into the crook of Kalista's neck.

_Too bad. This is about as cloudy as it's going to get for a while, _Kalista reminded her. Though she adjusted the hood of her jacket anyway, wishing it provided more shade.

It was mid-morning. Zero and Syl were asleep at the Truze House. Colorless light poured from the sky as Kalista walked down the sidewalk. A myriad of busy strangers rushed past her. Every time someone came particularly close, she'd instinctively reach for her hood and draw it closer, trying to conceal Jewel. It seemed she needn't have bothered, though – no one glanced her way.

_Here, _said Jewel.

Kalista turned and stepped into a narrow alley between two large buildings. Annoyingly, the light managed to still be bright enough there to prick her eyes, though it was more tolerable than it was on the street. She leaned against the brick wall and waited.

_It's still too bright,_ Jewel muttered. _I don't know if he'll be willing to come._

Time dragged by. Kalista's bare hands grew numb with cold. She breathed on them in a futile effort to warm them. Her face began to feel like it was frozen in a sheet of ice. When she realized she was starting to lose the feeling in her legs, she began to restlessly pace back and forth in the alley. Jewel shivered, covering her head with her wings.

_He's not coming._

"H-h-he will." Her teeth chattered.

Gradually the sun inched across the sky, and the light in the alley shifted. Kalista returned to the wall, pressing her back against it, trying to stay within the thinning shadows. She squinted briefly up at the pearly sky. _Where is he?_

_He's not coming,_ Jewel muttered tiredly. _We ought to just go home now._

Kalista didn't respond. She stood still and watched her breath form misty clouds in the air.

And then, finally, something quickly caught the light above. Kalista glanced up and saw a black shape descending towards her. She bit back a cheer and extended her arm. The bat landed on her sleeve.

Auster stared at Jewel with filmy black eyes. _Who is this?_ he asked.

_Kalista Belle. She's a friend._

_A friend? _Auster sounded both confused and intrigued. _Who's friend?_

_Zero's. Syl's. Mine._

_Really? All three of you are on the same page for once? That's amazing._

_Talk to her_, Jewel said flatly. _You've kept her waiting._

Auster's dark eyes shifted to Kalista. _Tell me, dear one. Why have you called me here?_

"I want you to tell Eileen and Louis where their sons are."

She flinched when Auster hissed at her. _Why would they want to know? _His voice was oddly steady considering his antagonistic stance. _Eileen, Louis, they don't want to see their children again – they don't want to face them and have to admit they were wrong about Ruth._

"That doesn't matter – not after all this time. When parents lose their children, they want them back."

_Not against the children's will._

"Auster, I don't want Zero and Syl to go back to their parents' home. I only want them to hear Eileen and Louis out, and then maybe forgive them."

_Forgiveness will not change Ruth's fate._

"It can change everyone else's," Kalista said calmly. "It can end the feud of the Rowning family."

Auster tilted his head to one side. He stared at her intently, and she held his gaze. His eyes were black and unreadable.

"Just one chance," she murmured. "It doesn't have to amount to anything. Vampires are immortal anyway; it wouldn't waste too much time to try. I only need you to give it one chance, Auster. If it works out, the future will be so much brighter."

Auster abruptly raised his wings and took to the air. _I'm not listening to you anymore. I am going back._

She watched him fly away, fading into the sky. _You may act derisive, but I know you're going to tell them. You don't want this fight to go on any longer either._


	19. Gathering

Thank you for reading. Please review.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Nineteen: Gathering**

_**January 11, 2004**_

Each night steadily grew colder as the winter dragged on, and tonight was no break in the pattern. Kalista sat on the roof of a tall vacant building, shivering and waiting. The stars were shining and the wind was whipping about fiercely. Though Kalista drew her breath slowly in an effort to keep calm, her heart was beating fast. Tonight was going to be important.

She heard a sound behind her. She peered over her shoulder and saw Zero standing there, looking at her.

"You've arrived," she noted, raising her voice so he could hear her over the wind.

"Jewel told me to meet you here. What is this about?"

Instead of answering, she returned her gaze to the stars and remarked, "It's your birthday today, isn't it? You're eighteen now."

"Yes," he said blankly.

"Well, happy birthday."

"Thanks." Zero paused. "That isn't the reason why we're up here, is it?"

"Just wait for the others to show up," Kalista told him. "It'll all become clear then."

They lapsed into silence. Zero remained out of Kalista's field of view; she didn't hear him move and assumed he was standing still.

Syl showed up after a few minutes, scrambling over the edge of the building. Jewel flew up beside him, perching on his shoulder when he gained his footing on the roof. Though Syl's eyes were neutral and unassuming, Jewel's were watching Kalista carefully.

"Hey there," Syl said to Kalista, whom he was nearer to than Zero. "What's up? Why'd you call everyone here?"

"It's a very long story, Syl," she responded.

"Well, I don't mind long stories. Come on, tell me the –"

Syl was cut off by a sharp gasp from Zero. Everyone turned around. Zero was trembling in place, his expression horrified. Upon noticing what he had reacted to, Jewel froze, Syl blinked in confusion, and Kalista felt a shiver unrelated to the weather run down her back.

Eileen and Louis Rowning stood a few meters away, wrapped in thick winter coats. Though Eileen glanced at Kalista once, the pair's guarded eyes were mainly fixed on their children.

Wind howled.

And then Zero screamed, "_What are you two doing here?"_

Though the loud gales tempered his voice, everyone still flinched at his tone.

"You can't have found us!" Zero shouted furiously. "You can't have – You shouldn't have – _how?"_

"Auster," Eileen murmured.

_I told you, Zero,_ Jewel said tonelessly, projecting her thoughts so everyone could hear. _Auster is Eileen's bat, not yours. If he ever wanted to tell her where you are, he could. And it appears he did._

"That crazy traitor!"

_He is not a traitor. He was never on our side._

"He wasn't supposed to be on theirs either! Why now?"

"Me."

All eyes snapped to Kalista.

"I met with Auster," she said. She was speaking mostly to Zero but made sure the others could hear her as well. "I asked him to tell them."

She waited for him to start screaming at her and calling her a traitor. Instead, she was stunned to hear him say only one bleak word: "Why?"

He sounded genuinely hurt. She forced herself to disregard that and respond only to his question. Now was not the time to lose her resolve. "This family feud is haunting you all. It's time to close that wound once and for all, and get rid of all these hard feelings."

"You're a bad dreamer," Zero groaned. "Just listen to yourself. You call this thing a wound? It's not – it's a scar, and it won't heal."

For a while no one responded to him. Then Syl noisily cleared his throat and tentatively approached his brother, going to stand right at his side.

"Zero," Syl said. He pointed to Eileen and Louis. "Who are they?"

The utter shock on his parents' faces was so unnerving that Kalista had to look away.

"They look sort of familiar," Syl said vaguely. "But I can't remember."

"They're . . . Eileen and Louis," Zero answered.

_They're your parents,_ Jewel broke in.

Syl's brown eyes widened. "They're alive?"

"You told him we were dead?" Eileen exclaimed incredulously.

"I didn't tell him anything," Zero growled.

"I thought they were dead." Syl's voice shook. "I couldn't come up with any other reason."

"Syl doesn't know anything," Kalista said plainly to Eileen and Louis. "He doesn't know why he and Zero are here. He doesn't even know about their sister."

"Kalista!" Zero cried sharply. His gaze locked with hers and she stared coolly back at him. She'd never seen him appear quite so crazed. Then he groaned and fell to his knees, staring at the ground. And his brother stared blankly at him.

"Zero," Syl said slowly. "We . . . we have a sister?"

The silence seemed like it would never end.

Zero sighed, shakily enough for Kalista to wonder if he was crying; she was too far away from him to see. Without raising his head, Zero said brokenly to his brother, "Yes, Syl. We have a sister. Her name is Ruth. You never met her because she was gone before you were born. She was thrown out of her own home, by her own parents, because she fell in love."

"With a human!" Eileen interjected.

"Did that matter?" Zero yelled at her. "Ruth is the best person you've ever known and you know it! And then she fell in love, and you disowned her for it. Was that really all it took? Just one thing about her that you didn't like, and that was it? You couldn't forgive one thing?"

"He was a human," Eileen repeated hotly. "You're too young to understand how grave that is."

"You always think I'm too young! You think I was too young when Ruth left. You think I was too young to remember anything about her. But you're wrong." Zero rose to his feet; the glare he directed at his mother was scathing. "I remember Ruth. I remember enough to know that I love my sister, and had she been able to come to me instead of you, _I would_ _not have thrown her out of her home!_"

Kalista felt something hovering near her head. She glanced to her right just in time to see Jewel lower herself into Kalista's arms. Jewel didn't speak, merely nestled close to Kalista's heart. Kalista thought she could hear Zero's name on the bat's mind.

Eileen's face was ice. "We loved Ruth too. But he was a human –"

"That's not good enough of a reason," Zero snapped. "You should've kept her."

Before she knew what had happened Kalista found herself announcing, "Zero, you're a hypocrite."

His eyes darted to her, startled.

"All this time you've been criticizing me for my reluctance to hunt humans," she said in a clear, steady voice. "You've criticized me for being unable to let go of my past. But it seems that you can't let go of yours, either. Even better, you can't let go because of the same reason as me – a human."

A shadow passed over his face. Kalista felt Jewel shift briefly in her arms, seeming to want to fly to him. But the bat changed her mind quickly and hung back with Kalista, who stared carefully at Zero. Kalista wasn't a mind reader, but it seemed that quite a few things were suddenly falling into place for him.

Zero looked back at his parents. "We can't agree on anything." Strangely he sounded more composed now.

"No, we can't," Eileen acknowledged warily.

"So I think it would be better if we just stopped remembering each other at all."

Louis had remained silent the whole time; Kalista had thought that perhaps he wasn't capable of speaking. She was shocked when he spoke up, the first words he'd said all night.

"We'll leave, then," Louis said. His voice was devoid of emotion. "If that's really what you wish. Come tomorrow, we will no longer exist at far as you're concerned. We will stop sending letters. If there is anything more you wish to say to us, you had better say it now."

"Just one thing," Zero replied. It was almost scary, how calm he sounded. "Tell me the name of the boy Ruth loved."

"His name," Eileen murmured. "Do we remember his name?"

"His name was Axel," Louis said. "Axel York."

Kalista felt a thrill run through her.

"Axel York," Zero repeated slowly. There was something odd in his tone. "Okay. That's it."

"Sylvester?" Eileen asked, causing Syl to start in surprise.

Syl shook his head. "I've got nothing to say to you."

"I see." She looked a bit hurt, but her expression cleared quickly. "I don't have anything to say to you either. Not anymore."

The wind blew, the stars shined down, and the two of them were gone in the blink of an eye.

_So that's it, _Jewel murmured. _A very sudden peace, isn't it? Do you think it'll last?_

_Better hope so._

Kalista suddenly noticed that Zero was standing much closer to her than she remembered.

"Still mad at your parents?" she asked.

"No. They don't exist anymore as far as we're concerned, remember? On the other hand, they may still exist for Ruth. I wonder if she's mad at them."

"We can find out, can't we?"

"You recognized the name too?"

"Of course. Axel York. He's Jane York's father. He lives just a few blocks down from us."


	20. Humans and Vampires

This is it, everyone! This is the last chapter of this story.

Thank you so much to everyone who somehow managed to read this far. It means a lot to me.

KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS

**Twenty: Humans and Vampires**

The yellow number on the door read 112. Kalista read the number again, Zero and Syl at her sides, Jewel perched on the latter's shoulder.

"This is the one," Syl said. "One hundred twelve. Right?" In the dead-silent hall, his voice seemed abnormally loud even though he was speaking in a stinted tone.

_It feels like we asked one hundred twelve people for his address_, Jewel commented. _I'd hope that they all had it right._

"Still, it is the middle of the night," Kalista brought up. "He's probably not awake."

"We'll wake him up, then," Zero said blandly. "If we wait until morning the sun will catch us, and even if it doesn't, we probably won't find the nerve to come back here."

_True enough,_ said Jewel._ Knock on the door already._

Kalista rapped her knuckles on the door. When no one responded, she knocked harder, wondering if she could be heard at all. For about ten minutes, there was silence. No one came.

Syl kicked the door.

He kicked it again.

"You're going to wake the neighbors," Zero warned him.

Syl stood back and stared at the door. It remained shut.

_Maybe he's a heavy sleeper?_ Jewel guessed.

But just as she finished that thought, the door finally cracked open. Standing there in the entrance was a tall blond man wearing a dark-colored robe. His blue eyes were bleary with sleep, and they narrowed when he registered his uninvited visitors.

"Are you Axel York?" Zero asked. His voice was steady. Kalista wondered what he was thinking about, facing the man his sister had lost her family over all those years ago.

"Maybe. Maybe not." The response was flat and distrustful. "It depends on who you are."

"My name is Zero Rowning," said Zero. "I'm Ruth's younger brother."

"Ruth's brother." In the space of just two words the man's voice had turned its tone around. He didn't sound tired or skeptical now. He looked at the vampires at his door with a sudden shine in his eyes that hadn't been there a moment before. "Yes. You are, aren't you? You look like her, somewhat. You are Ruth's brother, so I am definitely Axel York."

"She's mentioned me?" Zero questioned.

"Over and over," Axel replied. "She loved talking about you." Then he gestured inside his doorway. "Why are you all still standing outside? Come in already. But be quiet, since my daughter's asleep."

In a moment they were all seated on a pair of dark red couches, which were situated around a coffee table. Those pieces of furniture were the only notable items in the room. Kalista glanced around Axel's apartment, noting that it seemed oddly bare; especially considering a five-year-old lived there. The pale walls were blank, devoid of paintings or a child's crayon-marked scribbles. No toys were strewn anywhere on the floor. Somehow the emptiness gave her the cloying feeling that something was wrong.

"This is Kalista," Zero said to Axel, waving at her. Despite the human's apparent hospitality, Zero's voice was still guarded. "She's a friend of ours. Next to her is Syl, my brother. Ruth's other brother, I should say, but Syl was born after she . . . left home, so she wouldn't have mentioned him to you. The bat on his shoulder is Jewel."

Kalista stood and offered her hand to Axel. He didn't shake it. He didn't glance at her either. She noticed that everyone's gazes were on Zero, so she hastily sat back down and looked towards him as well.

Zero's expression was solemn. "Ruth," he said. "She's not here, is she?"

Axel exhaled slowly. "No, she isn't."

"What?" Syl and Kalista cried in unison.

"I thought so," Zero said wearily, looking up at Axel. "We've met before. I erased your memory, so you wouldn't remember me, but I recognized you. You're the first human I ever drank blood from, back when I awakened at twelve."

"What's your blood preference?" Axel asked at once.

"Grief."

"Oh, that makes so much sense."

"I know why," Kalista broke in. "Zero told me about you once, though not by name. He said the first human he bit was a young man who'd lost the girl he loved. That was you. Ruth left you, and you were grieving over her."

"Yes, that must have been me," Axel said. He spoke hurriedly, as if his head were bursting with ideas and he couldn't get them all out fast enough. "After Ruth was gone, I remember that I was so distraught I could barely function. Then there's this blank in my memory – probably where Zero met me – and after that Ruth suddenly was the last thing on my mind. I was so . . . _happy._ I just couldn't feel the sadness in my life anymore, even when I tried to. In the back of my mind I always knew there was something seriously wrong with me, but I couldn't find the will to do anything about it."

Zero winced. "Clearly I took way too much of your blood. The effects aren't supposed to be that strong."

"I'd hope not," Axel muttered. "That was a point in my life where I believed I was certifiably insane. All I wanted to do was act reckless and challenge everything. So . . . ."

His blue eyes shuttered like closed windows. He put his face in his hands and moaned. "So I met a woman, and then married her, and then had Jane with her, all in the blink of an eye. And even after the effects of the bite wore off, I looked at this woman and thought, 'Well, we share a daughter, so I suppose I should stay with her.' So I did, for five years. Then I decided I couldn't take it anymore, not even for Jane. I couldn't take living with some stranger that people called my wife."

Kalista glanced at Zero. His gaze was fixed down on his lap, where his hands were twining together. "I really messed up your life," he mumbled.

Axel shook his head. "My life was already messed up. Besides, at least I got a wonderful daughter out of that marriage. With Ruth . . . I hate to say this to you, and you know I really loved her, but nothing good ever came out of our relationship. Nothing but broken hearts . . ."

". . . and family feuds . . ." Syl commented softly.

". . . and estrangement . . ." Kalista murmured.

. . . _and secrets . . ._ Jewel breathed.

". . . and lunacy . . ." Zero muttered.

". . . and a tragic death," Axel sighed.

Zero started in his seat. "What?"

Axel stiffened. Zero shot to his feet and stared Axel down with a wild look on his face. "Where is Ruth?" the vampire demanded. After so much quietness, his raised voice was startling to the others, and they all flinched at his question.

"She's dead," Axel whispered.

"You told me that she only left you!" Zero yelled.

"It was a figure of speech. Yes, she 'left' me . . . for another world."

"Why?" Syl exclaimed.

"It was a suicide," was Axel's trembling reply.

"No," Zero said through clenched teeth.

"I woke up one morning and found that she had hung herself in her room."

"No."

"She left a note. She said that love wasn't enough, that it didn't make up for the fact that she was a vampire and I'm a human."

"No."

"She said that we would've found nothing but unhappiness together, so she had to take herself away from me in order to save me from a doomed life."

"No."

"She's buried in the Truze cemetery now. I had to fake a lot of human papers for her, but I got her there. No one ever knew she was a vampire except me, so don't worry about that. Zero, she's dead, please stop that. You can't do anything."

"_No._" Zero looked deranged. He tore at his hair, clawed at his face, cast wild glances all around the room. He scrambled a few steps in one direction and then changed to run in another, and then another, flailing in a small circle. He shouted 'no' again and again, speaking to nobody, the horror in his voice rising with each repetition of the word.

And then, suddenly, he lunged with crazed eyes and bared fangs toward Axel.

_Zero!_ Jewel lurched off of Syl's shoulder and flew straight at Zero, violently flapping her wings in his face. He staggered backward. His hands reached for Jewel but didn't touch her. The bat scratched at his face continually and Zero tumbled to his knees.

Jewel flew about a meter away from him, gazing at him apprehensively. He stared at the floor, his expression hidden. Kalista looked at Syl and saw silent tears tracking down the boy's face.

"So." Zero's voice was flat and barely audible. "My sister is dead."

"I'm sorry," Axel said.

"Where is she buried?"

**KZSKZSKZSKZSKZS**

The words on the headstone read:

**Ruth Gabrielle Rowning**

**September 18, 1973 – December 27, 1997**

**Rest in Peace**

"We should've brought flowers," Syl said.

Kalista shook her head. "Too cold," she told him, her breath visible in the dark early-morning air. "The flowers would wilt in no time."

"I still wish we'd brought some."

_We'll do that next time,_ Jewel said. _I'm sure we'll find ourselves here many times in the future._

A stiff breeze picked up and the four of them shivered. They'd only spent a few minutes in front of Ruth's gravestone so far. They realized that, in this abnormally freezing night, they wouldn't be able to stay much longer.

Syl cleared his throat. "Um, hi Ruth," he said to the grave. "I'm Sylvester. I'm your brother but you never met me. And . . . now I guess you'll never meet me. That's too bad, 'cause you seemed like a nice person. I might've liked you."

When he trailed off, Jewel spoke up. _My name is Jewel. Like Syl, I wasn't born until after you left home. You've never met me either, but I still feel like I've lost something now. I miss you already. We all do._

She trailed off too. Zero remarked listlessly, "We're all a little lacking in words tonight, aren't we?"

"I have something to say," Kalista murmured. "I have a lot to say."

She looked at the gravestone; read the inscription on it once again just because it was there. "Ruth," Kalista said. "My name is Kalista Belle. You and I have a lot in common. We're both vampires who love humans. For you, that love was the death of you. And maybe one day it'll be the death of me too. I hate taking humans' blood – I only do that to stay alive. And now you've got me thinking, what exactly am I staying alive for?

"You defined your life by Axel York. I guess that's not surprising, since you lost your family and he was all you had to turn to. For me, now that I think about it, I guess the main reason why I keep going is because of my mother. Even if I'm not with her, I know she wants me to be alive wherever I am.

"But it's a bit dangerous to define your life by one person, isn't it? I mean, look at where that got you. Looking at you now, the concept of death has suddenly become a lot more real to me. I don't think I want to choose it over life. But at the same time, what exactly makes life better than death?

"You could say that that applies to the whole vampire species in general. We just seem so superfluous to the world. A human could easily live his or her entire life without ever encountering one of us. But a vampire can't last long without preying off humans. Where does that leave the vampires like us who can't hunt in good conscience? You decided that there was nowhere to go and killed yourself. But Ruth, I think there's more than that in this world. There has to be a way for humans and vampires to co-exist in harmony.

"I've decided that now I have two reasons to stay alive. The first is my mother. And the second is because I want to search for the meaning in our lives. I want to find a way for humans and vampires to live together in this world without misery. You couldn't find the way. So I want to find it for you.

"So rest in peace, Ruth. Heaven knows you should've had that peace while you were alive."


End file.
